Conservatives say curbing debate on online streaming bill is ‘draconian,’ ‘disturbing’ – National

The federal government is cutting short debate by MPs on its online streaming bill, a move Tory MPs have condemned as “draconian” and “disturbing.”

They say curbing scrutiny of the bill line by line in committee is an attempt by the government to rush it through the House of Commons and will lead to the creation of a “flawed and incoherent” law.

Bill C-11, as it is known in Parliament, updates Canada’s broadcasting laws and would regulate streaming services such as Netflix, as well as YouTube, Spotify and TikTok.

The Liberals have given MPs until midnight to table amendments to the bill, and until Tuesday evening to scrutinize it clause by clause in committee.

Tory heritage critic John Nater said the government motion to limit scrutiny in committee, which is being discussed Monday in the Commons, is a “guillotine motion on steroids.”

Green MP Mike Morrice questioned why such “seemingly extreme measures” are needed when we are not expecting an election this summer.

“Why is it going at this pace given how important it is to get this legislation right?” he asked.

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather told MPs in a debate on Friday that the government has been reluctantly forced to table the motion because of Tory delaying tactics to try to stop the bill becoming law.

He said repeated Tory filibustering to slow the committee’s scrutiny of the bill had “broken the committee.”

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Bill C-11: What Canadians need to know about the new Broadcasting Act

Both Heritage Minister…