Common Sense Conservative Legislation Will Protect Canadians Online While Preserving Their Civil Liberties

September 12, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa, ON – The Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner, Member of Parliament for Calgary Nose Hill, announced that Common Sense Conservatives will present new legislation to protect Canadians online when Parliament returns: 

“After nine years of Justin Trudeau, the NDP-Liberal coalition has failed to put forward any legislation that will protect Canadians online without infringing upon their civil liberties.

“Canadians are paying the price for this failure. Online criminal behaviour is still rampant, yet the Liberals’ only response has been to table two censorship bills, forcing Canadians to choose between their safety and free expression. Not only will this Liberal legislation censor Canadians, but it will also create costly bureaucracies, led by radical Trudeau appointees, who will take more money out of working Canadians’ paycheques while punishing people for posting content the Liberal Government doesn’t like. 

“It doesn’t have to be this way. This new common sense Conservative legislation will protect the most vulnerable Canadians without creating a government-managed surveillance state or restricting Charter-protected speech.

“To do this, Conservatives will modernize existing criminal offences to protect Canadians from online harassment and violence in today’s digital environment, with special provisions to protect minors. This Bill will:

  1. Modernize the existing crime of criminal harassment to address the ease and anonymity of how it happens online.
  2. Provide mechanisms specifically designed to protect minors who are online.
  3. Update Canada’s existing laws on the non-consensual distribution of intimate images to ensure that the non-consensual distribution of highly realistic intimate images created by artificial intelligence (i.e. “deepnudes”) is criminalized while preserving the existing provisions in current law about fair use.

“Only Common Sense Conservatives will crack down on criminal behaviour online and protect Canadians while guaranteeing our right to free speech.” 

For detailed information on this new bill, please refer to MP Rempel Garner’s Substack.