Politics This Morning: ‘The most dangerous internet bill you’ve never heard of’

Good Monday morning, In today’s Politics This Morning: In the wake of the murder of HARDIP SINGH NIJJAR last year, the House will likely agree this morning that the government should examine how it deals with political interference, intimidation, and violence by foreign actors on Canadian soil. Four ministers are in the North today. The House National Defence Committee continues to look into space. Independent Senator JULIE MIVILLE-DECHÊNE’s Bill S-210 is set to be examined by the House Public Safety and National Security Committee beginning today. On the surface, S-210—short-titled the Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act—seems like it would be one of those Senate Public Bills that would easily gain all-party support. ISG Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne. Photograph courtesy of the Senate of Canada And it has: the bill has already passed the Senate, and passed second reading in the House where it is being championed by Conservative MP KAREN VECCHIO. Despite most Liberals voting against it (save for 15), it was ushered through to the committee stage with a vote of 189-133 last December. Both Miville-Dechêne and Vecchio will appear before the House Public Safety Committee today to discuss the bill, as will one of Miville-Dechêne’s staffers. So why, then, would Canada Research Chair MICHAEL GEIST describe it as “the most dangerous Canadian internet bill you’ve never heard of”? Firstly, the bill itself seeks to make it an offence for any organization to make “sexually explicit material available to young persons on the Internet.” The proposed offence would demand the guilty organization pay a maximum fine of $250,000 for a first offence, and a maximum of $500,000 for any offences thereafter. The bill would defer the administration and enforcement to a designated regulatory authority, which would also be tasked with taking other steps to prevent Canadian minors being able to see sexually explicit material on the internet. Geist guesses it would end up being the responsibility of the CRTC. The bill’s premise—that exposure to sexually explicit material causes harm, including pornography addiction, is runs counter to public health and safety—has already prompted criticism from those who point out there is a lack of scientific evidence to support these claims. (Pornography addiction, for instance, is not a recognized disorder—though it may be understood as a compulsion). Regardless, most people would undoubtedly agree that children should not be exposed to pornography. But putting the morality of it all aside for a moment, the bill could have real implications for surveillance, censorship, and the state of the internet, Geist and other critics say. It proposes preventing minors from accessing sexually explicit content by mandating websites impose age verification systems for its users. But the bill does not limit its scope to pornography. Instead it addresses all sexually explicit material—which means most websites, including social media sites like reddit, X (formerly Twitter), and search engines would need to comply. If they don’t, and they don’t abide by the regulatory body’s instructions to become compliant, then the bill gives Canadian courts the ability to order Canadian internet service providers to block those websites altogether for their customers—meaning, most of us. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in internet law at the University of Ottawa. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade The problem facing MPs on the Public Safety Committee will be navigating the concerns Geist and others have raised without being skewered by the opposition for—on the surface—being unwilling to protect children from the most vile content on the internet. In the news Pollsters and politicos tell ABBAS RANA the current PM needs to “do something different” if he wants to lead his party to victory in the next election. They suggest some ideas of what that something could be. Rana also talked to senior blue and red party insiders about PIERRE POILIEVRE’s antics last week. Is he getting overconfident? Can the Liberals capitalize on it? Disinformation has a corrosive and long-term effect on public trust in politics and media, MPs on the House Ethics Committee heard last week. STEPHEN JEFFERY examines that issue. Public servant unions aren’t happy with the government’s directive to work from the office for three days per week. MIKE LAPOINTE talks to union reps about their plans are to respond. JESSE CNOCKAERT takes a closer look at Bill C-27, the government’s data and AI privacy bill. It must be May: Politics and the Pen returns to the Chateau Laurier this week, where the winter of this year’s Shaughnessy Cohen Prize will be announced. ZACK LADOUCER previews this year’s event, which will be hosted by former premiers KATHLEEN WYNNE and JASON KENNEY. Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade Speaking of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing: Jeffery reviews one of this year’s finalists, JOHN VAILLANT’s Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, which Jeffery describes as both a post-mortem of the Fort McMurray wildfires of 2016, and prophecy of what lies ahead as Canada’s wildfire seasons worsen year over year. In Parliament In the House this morning at 11 a.m., MPs will debate Liberal MP SUKH DHALIWAL’s motion calling on the government to review its measures pertaining to political interference, violence, or intimidation by foreign actors on Canadian soil. His motion, which was put on notice in February and has since garnered the support of all parties, is in response to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, for which the government of India was allegedly responsible. On Friday, the RCMP announced it had arrested three Indian nationals on charges of murder and conspiracy, almost one year after Nijjar was shot in Surrey, B.C. At noon, the House will debate Bill C-69, the government’s budget implementation bill. Later in the afternoon, after Question Period, the House will debate Bill C-64, the government’s pharmacare bill. Still on the table is Conservative MP STEPHEN ELLIS’ not-so-good-faith amendment from April 16, which would see the House “decline to give second reading to Bill C-64” altogether. That clearly won’t pass, but does suggest the Conservatives won’t make it easy for the pharmacare legislation to get through. The government gave notice on Friday it would be using time allocation to limit debate on C-64. At committee At 11 a.m., the House National Defence Committee will continue its study of space defence. At last week’s space defence meeting, MPs heard from Canadian military generals about Canada’s aerospace defence capabilities, about threats from Russia and China, and whether there have been any more sightings of Chinese surveillance balloons (there have not). Even if there had been, early identification of unknown objects in Canadian aerospace can be difficult because Canada’s radar systems don’t extend far enough over the water or into the North, the military generals told committee members. They also heard that Canadian companies working in this sector are often left out of conversations having to do with the future of NORAD, for example, because they don’t have secret or top secret level clearance. American companies will ensure that some people within their company have that clearance, but Canadian companies don’t make that effort, MPs heard. At today’s meeting, MPs will hear from some of those private sector players, including the CEOs of MDA Space, Space Canada, NorthStar Earth and Space, and Maritime Launch Services Ltd. Also at 11 a.m. The House Industry Committee is meeting to continue its clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-27, the government’s data privacy and AI legislation. The House Citizenship and Immigration Committee will meet in camera to consider a draft letter on the subject of the government’s response to the Special Afghanistan Committee’s report. The government’s response included Bill C-41, which—passed in June 2023—allowed for exceptions to be made to anti-terrorism laws so that humanitarian organizations could operate in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan without being criminalized for financing a terrorism organization. The House Veterans Affairs Committee is meeting in camera about drafting its report on the experience of women veterans. At noon The House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee will meet in camera. At 3:30 p.m. Energy and Natural Resources Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON will appear before the House Natural Resources Committee as part of its review of the 2024-25 main estimates. Employment Minister RANDY BOISSONNAULT and Citizens’ Services Minister TERRY BEECH will both sit before the House Human Resources Committee. Both ministers and senior bureaucrats from each of their departments will be on hand for the committee’s review of the last 2023-24 supplementary estimates in the first hour, and the 2024-25 mains in the second hour. Randy Boissonnault. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade The House Foreign Affairs Committee is doing the same thing, but with International Development Minister AHMED HUSSEN and corresponding government officials. The House Health Committee will hear from medical experts, advocates, and Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation Chief PAULINE FROST for its study on the opioid epidemic, before turning in camera for drafting instructions for its report on women’s health. As discussed up top, the House Public Safety and National Security Committee is looking at Bill S-210. Vecchio and Miville-Dechêne’s appearances will be followed by departmental officials from Canadian Heritage. The House Languages Committee will continue its study on federal funding for minority language post-secondary institutions, hearing from the academic community. The House Public Accounts Committee will meet in camera. At 6:30 p.m. The Special Canada-China Committee is between agenda items right now, having concluded its study of the Winnipeg lab documents on Friday. It still has three witnesses scheduled to appear today from social justice and human rights organizations, before it goes in camera to consider drafting instructions for its report on the Winnipeg lab documents, and to discuss its future plans. You can find the details of all House committees here. Senate committees At 4:15 p.m. The Senate Human Rights Committee will meet for 3.5 hours looking at the issue of forced global displacement. Appearing first is WILLIAM DEERE, a Washington, D.C. director for the branch of UNRWA providing aid to Palestinian refugees. At 5 p.m. The Senate Languages Committee is studying issues pertaining to minority-language health services, hearing today from professors and representatives from the Alliance des femmes francophonies canadienne. You can find the details of all Senate committees here. What’s the cabinet up to? Emergency Preparedness Minister HARJIT SAJJAN is in Whitehorse, YT today to make an infrastructure announcement alongside Whitehorse Mayor LAURA CABOTT at 9 a.m. local time. Tourism Minister SORAYA MARTINEZ FERRADA is in Montreal, where at 9 a.m. she will announce the results of a biomedical research fund competition aimed at keeping Canadians safe ahead of future health emergencies. Defence Minister BILL BLAIR is on the second of his two-day visit to Iqaluit, Nu. Yesterday, Blair took part in providing a briefing to territorial premiers about “the changing security environment in the Arctic and North.” This morning at 9:15 a.m., he will be joined by Foreign Affairs Minister MÉLANIE JOLY and Northern Affairs Minister DAN VANDAL for a roundtable with journalists on the government’s renewed defence policy. What else is happening today? NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH will hold a press conference on the subject of youth mental health alongside NDP MP GORD JOHNS, his party’s critic on that file, at Minto Park at 12:30 p.m. B’nai Brith Canada is hosting a news conference on the Hill to talk about antisemitism in Canada at 9 a.m. The leader and deputy leader of the Canadian Party of Quebec, COLIN STANDISH and MYRTISH FOSSEY, are holding a press conference at 1 p.m. to call on the feds to disallow the arbitrary use of the notwithstanding clause. In case you missed it On Saturday, Abbas Rana reported that Liberal MP BARDISH CHAGGER would be leaving her role as chair of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee—but confirmed she still plans to run for re-election in her riding of Waterloo, Ont. PROC is scheduled to elect a new chair at its meeting tomorrow. Bardish Chagger, the now-former chair of PROC. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you think of Politics This Morning by contacting us at pmazereeuw@hilltimes.com or cnash@hilltimes.com. The Hill Times

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Politics This Morning: ‘The most dangerous internet bill you’ve never heard of’

Plus, how public service unions plan to respond to the new requirement that workers come into the office three days a week.

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