For the week of March 31, 2024:
Peter Menzies, senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says protecting children is a legitimate goal of the Trudeau Liberal government’s Online Harms Bill. But Bill C-63 is otherwise flawed.
Peter Menzies (MLI)
The former publisher and editor of the Calgary Herald and former vice-chair of the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission is Bob Mackin’s guest on this edition of thePodcast.
Menzies said Canada’s existing hate speech laws are sufficient, but Bill C-63 could harm free speech. Criminal Code amendments to clamp down on perceived hate speech are “over the top” and the proposed Digital Safety Commission would have too much power and be flooded with complaints about hurt feelings.
“As little as 10 years ago, even less, everybody was praising the wonderful democratizing power of the Internet,” Menzies said. “So what you have going on right now is a little bit of a ‘tech-lash,’ and I think governments are, in some cases, the actions are appropriate, but in some cases, they are overreacting.”
Hear the full interview. Plus, the Sin Bin and this week’s Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines.
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