That's right. As of April 28 of this year, the highly controversial Bill C-11 passed in the senate and became law. Some are saying it's "great for Canadian culture" while others decry it as "the ultimate censorship tool". "Which of those is it", you ask. Well, let's talk about it here.
The pro-C11 side say that this new law is simply about boosting truly Canadian content on the internet including social media sites. A noble goal indeed, but severely flawed from the outset. Government meddling in entertainment and news media is NEVER a good thing. At the animation school I attended, one of our teachers grew up in Soviet occupied Ukraine. She told us that the only thing available on Soviet television was ballet.
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| this or nothing |
In the USSR, the only shows you could watch on TV were ballet or nothing. This was the country's government colluding with entertainment and blatantly telling the entire populous that "THIS is what our culture is".
I'm not saying this amount of suppression is happening here in Canada already. There's certainly still a wide variety of shows and news available to Canadians made here and around the world. Here's hoping it stays that way no matter what the government does.
This idea of presenting a "Canadian identity" on our airwaves is certainly nothing new. It's a debate going back decades and decades. For instance, back in the day when "Justin's dad" was the Prime Minister, there was a Canadian made show
called SCTV. The "SC" stood for Second City. The show was pretty much the main stage cast of the Toronto affiliate of Second City producing a TV show the same way they would create their sketches for the live stage. After their first season, they were shopping their show around to various TV stations in order to attract a wider audience. When they made their pitch to a station manager in Edmonton, they got some rather back-handed feedback. "Your show is not Canadian enough", he said. They didn't appreciate that assessment. "We're already using Canadian actors, writers, producers and facilities. What more do you want us to do? You want us to sit in front of a big map of Canada, wear toques and drink beer?" That was their response.
Well, the guy said "make it more Canadian" so that's what they did. This is what brought about the MacKenzie Brothers. Everyone in Canada (definitely those over 40) are all too familiar with these characters. But, for those who aren't, I'll post a video below:
Watching this skit all those years, did you ever wonder why they had that long scroll at the end of their first few shows? Well, that was their rebellion against the CRTC's guidelines of what constitutes "Canadian content" and against that weird jerky guy in Edmonton. "Is THIS Canadian enough for you, hosers??!!"
Of course, now with Bill C-11 in place, it's not just "some guy in Edmonton" whose pushing for "a more Canadian feel" to this country's content, it's the current Prime Minister doing it. He won't physically be in the writing room telling Canadian productions what to do and what not to do, which is how it should ALWAYS be. However, he will have his finger on the algorithm that will determine what productions get artificially boosted online and which ones don't. And the standards for which he and his cabinet will use to ascertain which productions will be boosted or not are................................... well, he's not saying so far. Whether Justin claims to make these decisions fairly or not, I will talk about a time not so long ago about another Prime Minister with a similar type of ambition.
That Prime Minister's name was Stephen Harper. About 15 or so years ago, the Bill C-11 was known as Bill C-10. PM Harper wanted to pass that bill so that, as Conservatives put it at the time,
"tax dollars should not be funding productions that some Canadians find objectionable". I talked about much of that controversy here on this blog back in the day. Here is an interview the CBC did about that topic back in the day. I find it rather odd that many of the same people who were up in arms about Harper passing this bill are today all uproariously happy with Trudeau passing the exact same bill. Of course, at the same time, some people who are outraged about the bill paying under Trudeau were hoping for Harper to pass it back in 2008. I, for one, want NEITHER of these sides in charge of Canadian productions and I want both of them far FAR FAAAAAAAAAR away from any kind of social media regulation. If the next Prime Minister to get in after Justin does not immediately take Bill C-11 and journey to Mordor to cast it the fiery lakes from which it was forged, that Prime Minister should receive a non-confidence vote instantly and then replaced by someone that WILL make that journey.
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| No, master. You no takes my precious bill away. I use bill responsibly. You see. |
Well, ok Minister of....... Stuff. Just don't let the bill be handled by any of these guys:
But, for now, the bill is now here and is not going anywhere any time soon. But, I haven't given up hope in any way. As with the example of SCTV I showed earlier, there's always rebellion to fall back on. Anyone who's truly creative enough can find ways around draconian government rules no matter how many of those rules the government chooses to make. Freedom always finds a way.
I'll end this post with a video from one of the best group of sketch comedians in Canada or anywhere else in the world: the Kids in the Hall. I've embedded below one of their sketches that would surely challenge any rules that any Canadian government can dish out, even 30 years later. Enjoy, and also, screw you. :P
