Establishing new regulator for online harms law 'will take some time': Minister Virani
Canada's justice minister says it will "take some time" to create a new regulator to compel internet giants to better protect Canadians against online harms.
Arif Virani's comments come as the Opposition Conservatives are criticizing the government's plan to create a new regulatory scheme through its Online Harms Act as nothing more than an onerous bureaucracy.
The bill seeks to establish a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada, which would have the power to levy fines and evaluate companies' digital safety plans.
It also proposes hiring an ombudsperson to hear Canadians' concerns, which the government says would be supported by a new Digital Safety Office.
"We know that establishing a new commission … and an ombudsperson will take some time," Virani said Tuesday on his way into the weekly cabinet meeting.
The minister was responding to a question about whether those bodies could be in place before the next federal election, which is scheduled to happen by October 2025.
During debate on the bill last week, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner had raised concerns about the timeline, saying she believed "the regulatory process is not going to happen prior to the next election."
"Even if the bill is rammed through," she told the House of Commons last Friday.
Rempel Garner also said she has asked the Parliamentary Budget Officer to analyze how much setting up those entities will cost.
In response to the concerns, Virani said the government has always known that creating a new regulatory body is going to take some time.
"It's obvious," he added.
Experts who consulted with the government on an online harms regime signed an open letter last fall calling on legislation to be tabled after repeated promises from the Liberals.
The letter warned that children in Canada had fewer protections than their counterparts in places like the United Kingdom and Australia, which regulate platforms for the content they host.
When Virani tabled the bill earlier this year, he defended the amount of time it took, saying it was necessary to strike the right balance between protecting Canadians from harm while upholding the right to free expression.
Experts had raised the alarm about a proposal the government advanced in 2021 that would have potentially forced companies to take down content within a 24-hour window.
They warned that it ran the risk of platforms removing legal content and violating free expression.
Those criticisms sent the Liberals back to the drawing board.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised such legislation during the 2019 election campaign.
The issue picked up steam last October as police, along with Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups, reported a sharp increase in violent incidents and hateful rhetoric online in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
Virani said Tuesday there are "different components" of the legislation.
He noted that certain parts of the bill, like changes to the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, would take effect "much more quickly" after the bill's passage.
Those changes "target the specific amounts of division and hatred that we're seeing in Canadian society," he said.
Advocates and some legal experts, however, are critical of those measures, which include stiffer penalties for hate-related offences, saying the changes risk chilling free speech.
They are raising similar concerns about a proposed change to human-rights law that would allow Canadians to bring forward complaints about hate speech, saying it could lead to an influx of unfounded or malicious complaints.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2024
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Conservatives call on Elon Musk to step in after Liberals provide loan to Ottawa-based satellite operator
A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
Sunken superyacht believed to contain watertight safes with sensitive intelligence data
Specialist divers surveying the wreckage of the US$40 million superyacht that sank off Sicily in August, killing seven people including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, have asked for heightened security to guard the vessel, over concerns that sensitive data locked in its safes may interest foreign governments, multiple sources told CNN.
Myths busted and lessons learned: John Vennavally-Rao on his surgery to reverse his ostomy
Twenty-seven year Â鶹´«Ã½ reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao shares his story of what it was like to have an ostomy bag as part of his health-care battle. 'I’m grateful for what it did to extend my life,' he writes in a personal column for CTVNews.ca.
The British Columbia election campaign is set to officially start today, with Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin issuing the writ for the Oct. 19 vote.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
Heavy metal exposure could increase cardiovascular disease risk, study finds
A new study is adding to emerging research showing that exposure to metals such as cadmium, uranium and copper may also be associated with the leading cause of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease.
Unusual flippered feet are making their way into the Saint Lawrence River this weekend. Led by underwater explorer and filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are combing the riverbed near Beauharnois in Montérégie to remove hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.
Hezbollah targets base near Haifa after Israeli strike in Beirut killed 37, including top commander
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced that it fired a barrage of missiles at a military base deep inside Israel early Sunday following an Israeli airstrike more than a day earlier that killed at least 37 people, including one of the militant group’s senior leaders as well as women and children.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
Local Spotlight
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.