By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – On Monday, the Members of the Heritage Committee approved a motion they had voted down previously as the Liberals on the committee compromised and opened the meeting with a proposal to back down and wait on hearing from the Justice Minister.
When a firestorm erupted after the removal by the Liberals of Section 4.1, which exempted social media platforms from Bill C-10, the legislation intended to modernize the Broadcasting Act, the Conservatives proposed to suspend the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill until a new Charter statement from the Justice Minister could be produced. Such a statement would say whether or not the bill is on-side with the Canadia Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The prior iteration of the bill was okayed by Justice, but since it has changed, the Conservatives are demanding a new statement.
That motion was defeated, but that discussion took most of the time allotted for the meeting and only one amendment was dealt with. For the following two meetings, the Conservatives were able to prevent any work from being done. The Committee was at a standstill.
Furthermore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage did not help his case by being forced to retract on one of his answers in Question Period last Friday and he also had to issue a clarification after a CTV interview over the weekend that created even more confusion.
So today (May 10) the Liberals introduced a motion to produce such a Charter Statement and the subsequent appearance of the ministers of Justice and Canadian Heritage.
The motion was then amended by the Conservatives to suspend Committee work and invite Michael Geist to appear to discuss the Charter Statement. This amendment was further amended to have a panel from four experts selected by each party instead of only Dr Geist.
That amended motion was adopted unanimously.
So, next Friday, we expect to have a Charter Statement (we Hope the Justice Department was paying attention) and the two ministers appear in front of the Committee.
Shortly thereafter (probably next Monday), a panel of four experts will also appear to answer question of the Committee.
Then, the committee will resume its clause-at-a-time work.
