OTTAWA-
Deputies have rushed with more than 100 amendments to the online broadcast bill to meet a government-imposed deadline, which has led to allegations of secrecy and legislative failure.
There were heated exchanges between MPs on the heritage committee on Tuesday night as they voted on dozens of amendments to the bill, which would update the Broadcasting Act to include streaming platforms.
Many of the amendments – including those proposed by the government – were voted on without debate, meaning their content was not described to members of the public watching the commission.
Committee members, who sat down until after midnight to vote on the amendments, say they were only informed of its contents on Tuesday morning.
Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa’s Canadian Research Chair in Internet Law, says Canadians who see the committee rushing to review the bill in one day would be appalled.
The Heritage Committee had until Tuesday night to debate amendments to the bill after the government imposed a motion to allocate time to move it to the stage of the House of Commons committee.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 15, 2022.