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    • Trudeau says his government would never implement Liberal party policy on traceable online sources

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    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear on Tuesday that a government led by him would not ever implement the recently passed Liberal party policy aimed at fighting disinformation online by requiring platforms to have “material whose sources can be traced.â€

    “Liberals, like all Canadians, are right to be worried about misinformation and disinformation and wanting to make sure that Canadians are protected from it. However, that policy is not a policy we would ever implement,†Trudeau told reporters on Parliament Hill, speaking about a non-binding policy passed at the party’s national policy convention last weekend.

    The policy drew criticism leading up to and after Liberal delegates deliberated it, over concerns it would amount to government censorship and could force journalists to reveal their unnamed sources.

    Put forward by federal Liberals in British Columbia, the policy had the stated goal of fighting disinformation online, calling on the government to “explore options†to hold online information services accountable “for the veracity of material published on their platforms and to limit publication only to material whose sources can be traced.â€

    It was one of 24 resolutions passed, but that doesn’t mean it will become a Liberal government policy.

    Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor and the Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, wrote in a blog post last week the policy could amount to “heavy-handed speech regulation,†while “the inclusion of internet platforms could lead to widespread content censorship.â€

    Geist said the policy could raise several questions around journalists and their use of unnamed sources and whistleblowers.

    Also voicing concerns over the proposal’s potential implications, Conservative MP and Canadian heritage critic Rachael Thomas called the resolution “disheartening†even if the authors of the resolution did not intend to target journalists.

    Trudeau’s insistence Tuesday that, so long as he’s at the helm, this proposal won’t make it into the party’s election platform builds on a similar statement from Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez on Monday, who indicated a Liberal government “would never implement a policy that would limit freedom of the press or dictate how journalists would do their work.â€

    “We will never ... harm journalists' capacity to do the professional independent work that they do,†Trudeau said.

    PM CRITICIZES INTERNET GIANTS FOR RESPONSE TO ONLINE NEWS BILL

    Trudeau also took aim at the tech giant Meta on Tuesday, calling it “out of touch†for its response to the government’s Online Streaming Act, Bill C-18.

    The bill — which is at the committee stage in the Senate — would require internet giants to compensate Canadian media companies for making news content available on their platforms.

    The Canadian Press reported Tuesday that Meta Canada public policy head Rachel Curran told the House of Commons heritage committee the company has a content-blocking team prepared to scrap news on its social media platforms if the bill passes.

    In response to comments from Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner at committee that blocking news from Meta’s social media sites could lead to a rise in misinformation and disinformation if people are looking for information elsewhere, Curran said it’s a business decision.

    “We believe that news has a real social value,†she said. “The problem is that it doesn’t have much of an economic value to Meta.â€

    Trudeau meanwhile said Tuesday that argument is “not just flawed, it’s dangerous to our democracy, to our economy.â€

    "Putting aside the jobs and communities that are supported by local journalism, by professional journalists, understanding what's going on in the world around us is an essential service,†Trudeau said. “Being able to challenge authorities and powers in democracies and in non-democracies is a fundamental part of what we're doing, and what how we create a better and fairer society forever.â€

    In response to C-18, Google also did a test run of blocking certain users from seeing news links in February.

    "Woodward and Bernstein weren't influencers,†Trudeau also said. “Someone reporting on the horrors in Bucha (Ukraine) is not trying to get 'likes' on their Facebook page. Journalism is essential.â€

    “The fact that Facebook is still saying that it doesn't want to pay journalists for the work they do shows how deeply irresponsible and out of touch they are with how we need to ensure all of us, we're protecting our democracies,†he added.

    With files from CTVNews.ca’s Daniel Otis and Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello

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