It adds undertakings that conduct "broadcasting" over the internet to the regulatory scope of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), giving it the power to impose "conditions" on their operation.
Supporters of the bill state that it allows the CRTC to compel foreign streaming services to follow similar regulatory obligations to conventional radio and television broadcasters, and government officials projected that mandating participation in the Canada Media Fund by online broadcasters would result in at least $830 million in additional funding by 2023.
The opposition has directed criticism at the bill for granting a large amount of power to the CRTC, who are unelected regulators and receive very little guidance from Parliament or the government.
[24] On June 1, 2022, a proposed amendment by the Conservatives to reinstate a clause excluding user-generated content from the scope of the bill, citing various concerns from critics and media outlets, was voted down by the House.
[27] On June 14, another motion was introduced to only allow one hour of debate for the amended bill when it returned to the House, and only 75 minutes for the third reading.
[28] On June 15, the aforementioned amendments were voided by Speaker Anthony Rota, for having been passed by the Heritage Committee after the five-hour period expired.
[34][33] Once again, in June 2022 debate was largely curtailed by providing only three, 120-minute sessions for a clause-by-clause review, after which all remaining proposed amendments were voted on with no discussion or publication permitted.
[40] Bill C-63 amends the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act to tackle hate speech and hate crimes online, introducing new definitions, enforcement powers for the Digital Safety Commission, compliance orders enforceable by the Federal Court, substantial fines for non-compliance, and provisions for recovering costs from social media platforms..[44] As part of its plan to implement the Online Streaming Act, the CRTC announced on 4 June 2024 that any foreign streaming service with revenues of more than $25 million in Canada would have to contribute 5% of their annual revenues to support Canadian online content starting 1 September 2024.
[53] The licensing framework for broadcasters is modified to remove the seven-year limit for fixed terms, and authorize the CRTC to issue indefinite licences.
[51] The CRTC will be prohibited from imposing any obligation on the industry that "does not contribute in a material way to implementing the broadcasting policy for Canada.
[53] However, the Act gives the CRTC power to impose regulatory conditions and obligations on them as with all other broadcasters, such as giving prominence to Canadian content on their platforms (although the bill prohibits mandating that algorithms be used to do so), paying expenditures in support of Canadian productions, and being compelled to provide information to the Commission on such matters when requested.
In response, Trudeau argued that free speech is "not negotiable by our government", and commented that "the tinfoil hats on the other side of the aisle are really quite spectacular.
[71] Concerns were raised over the comments, as they had contradicted Guilbeault's previous assurance that the Act would not apply to individual users of social networks, and it was unclear what the threshold would be under this criterion.
"[67] On May 9, Kate Taylor of The Globe and Mail published an opinion piece in support of the bill, stating that concerns over the bill were being "overblown" by the Conservatives, that the Broadcasting Act has always required that it be applied by the CRTC "in a manner that is consistent with the freedom of expression and journalistic, creative and programming independence", and that all Canadian creators "deserve a broadcasting law that offers basic fairness".
[72] That night, Guilbeault shared a Medium post on Twitter which claimed that opposition to the bill was the product of "public opinion being manipulated at scale through a deliberate campaign of misinformation by commercial interests that would prefer to avoid the same regulatory oversight applied to broadcast media.
"[75][76] On May 19, the Heritage Committee voted in favour of an amendment by the Bloc Québécois that ensures that the CRTC would only be allowed to enforce conditions on the promotion of Canadian content by social media platforms that are consistent with the Charter right to freedom of expression.
[81] In August 2022, it was reported based on documents from an Access to Information Act request, that the removal of Section 4(1) from the original version of the bill was the result of lobbying by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE).
On December 6, 2022, amendments were agreed upon by the committee that would require online undertakings to "implement methods such as age verification" to prevent minors from accessing programs containing sexually explicit content.
"[83][84] On March 7, 2023, Minister of Heritage Rodriguez and his caucus rejected a key amendment by the Senate that protected against the regulation of user-generated content.
The congressmen urged the U.S. top trade official to work with Canada to "arrive at a flexible system respecting consumer choice and the interests of the U.S. music industry and artists."
The Canadian government maintains an exemption in the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement allows it to protect the country's "cultural sovereignty, including in the online environment.