Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller insists the federal government will not capitulate to the U.S. administration and back down on the legislation he says is aimed at protecting children from the potential harms of the internet.
“Kids just aren’t on the bargaining table. Hard stop,” Miller told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos in an interview airing Sunday.
Bill C-34 — dubbed the Safe Social Media Act — is the Liberals’ third attempt to tackle harmful online content.
With the Liberals in majority government territory, it’s likely the bill will pass, though the House of Commons is set to rise this week and the act will have to wait until the fall. Once passed, the bill will ban children under 16 from using social media, unless platforms obtain an exemption by complying with safety standards. The safety standards and enforcement mechanisms, though, won’t be set up for at least another 18 months through a yet-to-be-established regulator.
U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has a history of defending big tech, and has signalled a willingness to fight social media bans in other jurisdictions.
And, amid an ongoing trade war and the fast-approaching Canada-U.S. Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) review deadline, Canada has capitulated to the U.S. administration in the past in the digital space. For example, the federal government scrapped the controversial digital services tax (DST) and is expected to direct the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to reverse a recent decision to force American streamers to put 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues towards Canadian content.
Trump and his administration had heavily criticized the two measures and called on the Liberals to eliminate them, also labelling both as trade irritants.
“I’m entirely assured that we’ll be focusing on kids,” Miller told Kapelos, adding he believes the U.S. administration also wants to protect children from potential dangers online.
“The issues in and around some of the other matters that we were discussing are ones that I won’t be discussing publicly,” Miller also insisted, referencing the DST and Online Streaming Act. “But clearly there’s a difference between how money is distributed within an industry and the desire to protect kids, and I would also say that platforms, not to put words in their mouths, are taking a different approach to this.”
When pressed on the CRTC review directive and whether it’s a sign the government is willing to back down when it receives pushback from the U.S. at the expense of Canadian companies, Miller said the federal government didn’t believe the CRTC “got it right.”
Despite the federal government’s concessions to the U.S. administration on issues such as the DST and Online Streaming Act, Trump said this week he wants to review, rather than renew, CUSMA.
You can watch Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller’s full interview on CTV Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.
With files from CTV News’ Judy Trinh
