Conservative Party of BC Leader John Rustad has said that Bill C-18 represents “huge overreach” by the federal government and is “to the detriment of our society.”
The MLA was asked about the Online News Act during an interview with NowMedia.
The law was passed in June 2023 and prompted Meta – the owners of Facebook and Instagram – to ban news on its platforms in Canada.
Federal government ministers had argued the law would bolster the finances of media outlets by ensuring Silicon Valley giants paid their fair share for news stories posted to their platforms.
Instead, Meta’s decision to block news in protest at the legislation has been catastrophic for independent media platforms across the country, with some forced out of business and others suffering a huge drop in revenues.
Rustad, who believes his party is set to take the reins in British Columbia this year, said as premier he would request the federal government “get rid of that sort of stuff.”
“If the Trudeau government won't do it, hopefully the future government will do it, and we'll certainly be fighting on that behalf,” he explained.
“I look at [C-18] and I think, What was the purpose of doing that? And there's only one purpose of doing that as a government. You're trying to control the narrative.”
He added: “You're trying to make sure that the only information out there is the narrative that you want forwarded. And I think that is completely wrong by government.”
Rustad also said he believes “media is changing” and will “look very different than it does today” in the future.
But it shouldn’t be the government’s role to determine “what should happen and what shouldn’t happen within the media,” he said.
“The media industry is going to work that out in terms of what sort of model can happen,” he explained.
“But what I disagree with strongly is any piece of legislation, whether it's provincial or national in nature, that limits free speech, that limits the freedom of the media and their ability to be able to go forward with what they do.
“I think those things are a huge overreach by governments and it's to the detriment of our society. Freedom of speech is the core foundation of democracy – and if you're limiting that, what are you doing to your democracy?”
Late last month, Central Okanagan–Similkameen–Nicola MP Dan Albas also lambasted the bill.
He said the federal government has “created an awful mess” and “put livelihoods on the line” by intervening in the media landscape.
“The government has staked a position and is not listening to any critics, whether they be political, or whether they be media critics, or even the industry itself,” he argued.
NowMedia has previously requested an interview with Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who is responsible for the Online News Act, but her press team said she is unavailable.
