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The Liberals once campaigned on openness, transparency, and public consultation. But discouragingly those principles have been abandoned in the rush to pass Bill C-10, the Broadcasting Act reform bill. A tweet stream on what’s happening… 1/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
There is now a “pre-study” at the Canadian Heritage committee. “Pre-study” is a euphemism for avoiding conventional parliamentary process, since the bill hasn’t passed 2nd reading and hasn’t been referred to committee. 2/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
At committee, opposition MPs have wondered aloud why they’ve already been asked for Bill C-10 amendments when there has been no completed study and practically no witnesses. Leaves impression of “consultation theatre.” 3/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
The government has still not made public the data behind its claims that the bill will generate more than $800M in new money for the sector. Heritage officials say calculations could be “confusing” without a verbal explanation. 4/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
When I appeared at committee last week, @juliedabrusin interrupted questions for a point of order to note the committee had been provided with $800M data. It seemingly didn’t occur to her that the information is still secret and not publicly available. 5/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
Yesterday at the @The_CMPA Prime Time event, @S_Guilbeault was forced to admit that the policy directive that contains much of the operational details behind C-10 is still secret and not publicly available. He said he’s working on it. 6/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
As for the CRTC, @S_guilbeault seemed ready to circumvent due process and consultation there too, noting “he’s not a patient person.” His bill already dispenses with cabinet appeals apparently on the grounds that Internet companies might use them. 7/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
The secrecy issues don’t even touch the misleading statements to the House of Commons on the bill, including inaccurate claims about economic thresholds, news regulation, ownership requirements, and false comparisons to the EU approach. 8/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
There are currently many transparency concerns and C-10 pales in comparison to issues like vaccine contract information. But given its importance, all Canadians deserve better than Bill C-10's persistent secrecy and fast-tracked consultation theatre. 9/9 https://twitter.com/mgeist/status/1359143837944446979
