By Denis Carmel
AT THE START OF THE first Heritage Committee meeting to consider amendments to Bill C-10, the chair of the Committee, Liberal MP Scott Simms, said: “Buckle up, folks. This is the fundamental core of parliamentary democracy at its best. It’s going to be an exciting time—so exciting that we’ll probably sell the story rights to Netflix.”
He was joking but the hearing had a discoverability problem: they were held at lunch time on Mondays and in the afternoons on Fridays.
So, on Thursday evening, after going a little viral this past week, the committee will convene from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., in a surprising departure from habit.
We are speculating the Justice Minister will file amended Charter Notices demanded by opposition members after the removal of the bill’s section 4.1 that excluded social media from the purview of the amended Broadcasting Act.
And, while they’re at it, the new amendments promised by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, may well be tabled along with the new Charter Notice. However, the rigid constraints of committee work could prevent it unless there is unanimous consent, which is dubious, given the political battles which have broken out, drawing in the leaders of all federal parties.
So, the Thursday evening meeting could be spent debating the production of a Charter Notice and the various amendments attached to it – and the appearance of the ministers.
Both the NDP and the Bloc say they still support Bill C-10 but have been snookered into this debate by the Conservatives.
Just a reminder additional meetings are scheduled on May 7, May 10 and May 14. The House rises for a constituency week and the next meeting after that would be held on May 28.
Time is running out. C-10 has to pass through third reading in the House of Commons and then it goes to the Senate, which has its own committee process. Rushing controversial pieces of legislation in a minority government during a pandemic was perhaps not the best idea.
Expected further legislation which the Heritage Minister, Steven Guilbeault, said he would table soon (such as a bill addressing online hate and compensation for news content) seem in jeopardy, too.
