Michael Geist, a university professor and lawyer specializing in media law, makes note of an impassioned and fiery speech given by one Senator, a guy named David Richards. While at 72, he admits he's not an Internet expert, but he gave an amazing summary about why he's very, very worried about this law. You can scroll down this article to read the italicized complete text of his remarks, but here are just a few highlights.  

"I have a good deal of problems with this bill. I think it’s censorship passing as national inclusion...What George Orwell says we must resist is a prison of self-censorship. This bill goes a long way to construct such a prison...

"No decree by the CRTC could, in any way, tell us what Canadian content should or should not be, or who should be allowed to bob their heads up out of the new murkiness we have created...this will bleed over into any performance we tend to create, and we will have government officials holding a book of rules telling us if we are Canadian enough or, worse, who can write what about whom...

"I do not know who would be able to tell me what Canadian content is and what it is not, but I know it won’t be in the Minister of Heritage’s power to ever tell me."

Hmm, maybe we shouldn't consider disbanding the Senate after all!

RadioActive wrote:

Here's a scenario from the Globe & Mail I hadn't thought about - and if you subscribe to a streaming service like BritBox or Acorn, it could affect you if Bill C-11 becomes law. 

"Ms. Simons called on Mr. Rodriguez to clarify in the ministerial directive he plans to send to the CRTC once the bill becomes law, that platforms such as BritBox will not be obliged to promote Canadian content.

 "She said now there was nothing in the bill ruling it out, despite vague indications from the government that the streaming service might not be covered.

“Lots of Canadians have BritBox. The whole raison d’être of BritBox is everything on it is British so it can’t have Canadian content,” the senator told The Globe and Mail in an interview."

Will the government be willing to make exceptions to their rules? We'll have to see.
 
British TV platform, BritBox, should not have to promote Canadian programs, say senators

Now admittedly I haven't read as much of the bill as other posters likely have, but how the heck is this supposed to work? It's easy to default to Netflix or Prime when talking streaming, but the reality is a huge portion of streaming is the thousands of niches of the long tail.

An exceptions list would be straight up impossible. A blanket regulation is impossible. So, either you have to specifically name the services being regulated or set some very high bar of active users to determine if a service will be regulated.

My favourite "exception" was when it was explained that "user generated" content on YouTube won't be regulated. So, all of it? The are the same politicians that used the phrase "When Facebook takes and posts news." Clueless.

It reminds me of when Mark Zuckerberg was pulled in front of a panel of US politicians. They may have had a valid fundamental concern, but are completely incapable of solving it as they haven't a clue how the platform works.

If we believe that it's important for governments to support Canadian content, the only practical solution is funding.

Last edited by RadioAaron (February 2, 2023 11:53 am)

I doubt it will have much effect at all.

The government will hand the CRTC, an organization that is often a year or more late renewing the licences of compliant radio stations, a completely un-enforceable mess of a bill regulating platforms of which they have little to no understanding.

Another take on Bill C-11 with comments from Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez.  From Broadcast Dialogue..https://broadcastdialogue.com/bill-c-11-could-become-law-next-week-with-senate-sign-off/ 

From the Globe & Mail:

What to expect from Canadian TV in C-11 world