Trudeau's plan to censor Internet “hate speech” just started a trade war

Justin Trudeau published the “mandate letters” of his cabinet ministers last week, and one handed to Steven Guilbeault caught my eye.

Guilbeault is the new Canadian Heritage Minister after making a career as an environmental extremist, the David Suzuki of Quebec. If you look at Guilbeault's mandate letter, it's guaranteed to put this anti-American, anti-Trump activist on a collision course with the United States because this mandate violates the new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, or USMCA.

The USMCA is the soon-to-be ratified, renegotiated version of NAFTA. It hasn't been signed yet, and the contents of the to-do listed handed to Guilbeault by Trudeau throws a wrench that will start a trade war.

Here's what the mandate for Canadian Heritage requires of the Minister:

“Create new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant penalties.”

Further, the mandate doubles up on existing provisions already covered by the Criminal Code:

“This should include other online harms such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children, or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda.”

The main social media companies — Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat — are all American. And they're all platforms. They're not making the content people are watching. They're platforms. YouTube doesn't make content, they host it. And this distinction matters to the new NAFTA.

In tonight's show, we'll do what Trudeau's team didn't, and actually look at the section of the USMCA which forbids Canada from treating these platforms as if they were creators of the content posted and uploaded by their users.

NEXT: National Post columnist Barbara Kay joins me to talk about her recent article on the Ontario mother starting a new project to fight radical trans ideology. For more information on this project, please visit GenderReport.ca.

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Ezra Levant

Rebel Commander

Ezra Levant is the founder and owner of Rebel News and the host of The Ezra Levant ShowHe is the author of multiple best-selling books, including Ethical Oil, The Libranos, China Virus, and most recently, Trudeau's Secret Plan.

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