Don’t tell us what we can watch or think
Re: Ottawa targets Youtube: Legislation would see CRTC regulate video giant, April 27; Trudeau is coming for your cat videos, Jesse Kline, April 28; Guilbeault’s platform should be taken down, Terence Corcoran, April 29
Of all of the destructive and divisive policies that this liberal government has considered and implemented, the censorship of unfettered free speech is by far the most discriminatory and egregious.
Perhaps the government has forgotten that all devices connected to the internet have an off switch. Which each Canadian can decide for themselves to employ should they become so offended that they wish to remove themselves from exposure to that which they personally find offensive. The government’s suggestion that its discernment capacity is greater than that of individual Canadians is utterly deplorable.
Canadians do not need or want government protection from imaginary hurt caused by differing perspectives and opinions. We do not wish to be told what we can hear, watch, say or think. Curtailment of public discourse is never preferable to entirely impartial freedom of expression and thoughtful, respectful debate of even the most extreme positions. The government’s time and our money would be better spent protecting our freedom as opposed to destroying it. Gladys Huliberi, Cowichan, B.C.
Given that Canada already has well-entrenched hate speech laws, we should ask where our intelligent, wellschooled and well-practised judges, lawyers, keepers of the peace and captains of industry are in challenging this spurious Liberal proposal, and what truly is their agenda in adding another bureaucratic layer to such a law? Is it perhaps that Justin Trudeau is now feeling the heat coming from all quarters regarding his premiership and is using Steven Guilbeault to do his questionable bidding for him? Something smells over this seemingly very rushed pre-election proposal. Stephen Davis, Mississauga, Ont.
One is left rather mystified at the government’s proposed Bill C-10. This is not so much because of the wilful attempt to suppress freedom of expression by the Trudeau administration as the absolute ignorance of how the internet works and thus the utter futility of the attempt. Any Canadian with Netflix is already well aware that using a VPN gives access to the U.S. content, the U.K. content, etc., and that bypassing Canadian government control is a trivial matter. It is likewise the case for Bill C-10. Why the government would want to expose both its totalitarian desires and its impotence within a single document is quite beyond me. Paul Ward, Waterloo, Ont.
Canadians of all stripes should take to Netflix, Prime, Facebook, Instagram, Apple, Amazon, Twitter and other entertainment, e-commerce and social networking sites to commence a massive uploading, posting, downloading, link-sharing and tweeting campaign of all things related to the book and movie “1984.” John P.A. Budreski, Vancouver