Parliament to Vote on Reinstating the Canada-People’s Republic of China Committee
Plus my recent town hall, the Liberal government limits debate on internet censorship Bill C-11, Elections Canada officials at parliamentary committee, and the recent Alberta court ruling on Bill C-69
Parliament to Vote on Reinstating the Canada-People’s Republic of China Committee
At the start of the year, I had called on the federal government to restore the parliamentary committee on Canada-People’s Republic of China relations and make it permanent. I noted the importance of recognizing the shifting world order as the People’s Republic of China grew in power economically and politically. In fact, you can make a compelling case that this superpower was returning to its historically predominant position after the devastation wrought by the radicals in the Chinese Communist Party. There is also a noteworthy name change to clearly make this committee’s work about the government-to-government relationship and to avoid the pitfalls of being drawn into the nationalistic ‘us versus them’ rhetoric from Beijing’s foreign affairs department. The parliamentary committee will have the mandate to examine and review all aspects of the Canada-People’s Republic of China relationship, including economic, security, and cultural matters. Our countries’ relations were often fraught over disagreements regarding the illegal detention of Canadian citizens, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the security laws applied by Beijing to Huawei, and the continued human rights violations of ethnic and religious minorities. These are issues that are still of concern today and make the Committee on Canada-People’s Republic of China relations crucial for securing Canada’s national interests. Special parliamentary committees increase accountability and transparency as MPs hear from witnesses, order the release of government documents, and produce reports on matters they are assigned to review. These are done publicly and move the onus of responsibility out of government departments and into the hands of elected officials directly. This is how Parliament dealt with the question of electoral reform between 2015-2019, the medical assistance in dying court decisions, and now with the special committee on Afghanistan. This week, Conservatives introduced a motion to reinstate the Committee on Canada-People’s Republic of China with the vote happening on Monday, May 16th. Canada’s federal government has mishandled the relationship with this re-emerging global power and we have now a troubled diplomatic relationship that endangers our national interests. Canada’s 21st-century opportunity lies in securing the maximum trade opportunities for our entrepreneurs while protecting our citizens from the increasingly subtle soft power wielded by the government in Beijing.
Bill C-69 found to be unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal of Alberta
A victory for Albertans and our energy jobs. This week, the Court of Appeal of Alberta ruled that the Liberal government’s Impact Assessment Act, known as Bill C-69 or the ‘no more pipelines’ law, is unconstitutional. The federally appointed judges in their 4-1 majority opinion, described the Act as an “existential threat” to the division of powers laid out in the Constitution and was a “wrecking ball” to the constitutional rights of Albertans and Sasketchewans. In their view, the legislation placed provinces in an “economic chokehold”. When the bill was first introduced in 2016, Conservatives fought it, arguing it was a massive overreach from the federal government into provincial jurisdictions. The Liberals rammed it through anyway. Years later it is gratifying to know our resistance, caution, and warnings to the federal government were indeed legally correct. All of this legal wrangling could have been avoided if the federal government had listened to the advice and pushback from legal experts in Western Canada that as the law was constructed that it exceeded the constitutional authority given to the federal government. While I am glad this Court has ruled this law unconstitutional, it does not end here. The Liberal government has now appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. This sets the stage for the final legal arguments to be made on these issues and this legislation.
Liberal government limits debate on internet censorship Bill C-11
Time allocation is a rule in Parliament that allows for specific periods of time to be set aside for MPs to deliberate and debate on one or more stages of a bill. While meant for time management, it also allows the government to shut down debate early on controversial bills that have many MPs seeking time to speak and debate its merits. This is what the Liberal government has chosen to do on Bill C-11, the internet censorship bill that is virtually identical to Bill C-10 from the last Parliament. Despite claiming their new changes expressly exempt Canadians from regulation, Jeanette Patell, head of government affairs at YouTube, said C-11 gives the CRTC scope to oversee everyday videos posted for users to watch, contradicting Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s claims this new version of the proposed law was fixed. While section 4.1 (1) of the bill excludes from regulation individual users, section 4.1 (2) essentially takes back s.4.1(1), giving the CRTC power to make regulations governing “programs” that could include their expressions, pictures, messages, life history and so forth will now be defined as a broadcasting program and, in some cases, regulated as such, despite the exclusion for user content. According to YouTube, this would give the CRTC as regulator the discretion and scope to oversee a wide range of content. To have a regulator oversee content online and possess the power to change what you see is to engage in censorship. Every Canadian who watches videos or listens to music or podcasts online could be impacted by this bill. I have yet to have been able to make an intervention on this particular bill and there are many other MPs who find themselves in the same situation. I typically take this time to reflect the views of Calgary Shepard residents as well as delve deeper into the substance of the proposed legislation. In this case, I continue to have serious concerns that user uploaded content will be censored, and that the playlists and preferences of Canadians for content from other countries will be censored by either being invisible or downrated automatically. The federal government continues to try and fit internet programming and content into a 1970s format legislation meant for traditional broadcasters. Cutting off debate in the manner done by the federal Liberals is unjustified when constituents and experts from across Canada continue to raise red flags with the wording and structure of this internet censorship legislation. Conservatives will continue fighting this bill to the very end.
Elections Canada Officials Appear at Committee to Defend their Spending
Last week, I joined the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, also known as PROC during their review of the spending plans for Elections Canada. Stéphane Perrault, the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada, was present at the meeting to explain and take questions on the 2022-23 main estimates and his department’s spending more broadly. Watch below as I took the opportunity to thank Mr. Perrault on behalf of taxpayers for spending less than in previous years. I also dove deeper into questions about the over 200,000 uncounted ballots and the detailed review of how many arrived too late, the numbers canceled, and those marked as lost in the mail. I also questioned Elections Canada officials on spending related to the Inspire Democracy Network. The federal government is an incredibly large operation with hundreds of billions in spending and countless government programs operating across the country. These types of in-depth committee reviews are where parliamentarians get to ask detailed questions related to this spending.
Recent digital town hall
This past week, I had a digital town hall where I answered questions and concerns I have been receiving in emails, phone calls and in-person meetings over the past few months. I covered topics ranging from expensive internet and cell service to Canadian energy infrastructure to Budget 2022 and Canada’s ongoing aid to Ukraine, among other matters. You may watch the digital town hall at the link below.