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OTTAWA - The Liberal governments controversial online-streaming bill was back in the upper chamber on Tuesday, with one senator who had earlier opposed it saying she expected it to pass.

After more than a year of debate and revisions, Alberta Sen. Paula Simons said she would really like to see Bill C-11 done and dusted this week, and not because she wants to ram it through.

For all the cynicism about the Senate, I think the Senate showed its merits with this bill, Simons said in a recent interview. And I think we did a really good job of debating and discussing it.

Quebec Sen. Marc Gold, the Liberal governments representative in the Senate, said the finish line is in sight after he introduced a motion Tuesday that asked the Senate to adopt the bill so that it can become law.

For Canadas cultural sector, it has been a long road and a long wait, but the finish line is in sight, Gold said.

For many in the industry, an important source of their income is inextricably linked to the passage of this bill.

If passed, Bill C-11 would update broadcasting rules to include online streaming and require tech giants such as YouTube, Netflix and Spotify to make Canadian content available to users in Canada or face steep penalties.

Last month, the House of Commons adopted most of the Senates amendments, which included measures to highlight the promotion of Indigenous languages and Black content creators and a change that sought to reaffirm the independence and freedom of expression of creators.

Senators also tweaked the bill to ensure that funds collected from tech giants would go toward promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

The bill was subject to especially lengthy debate in the Senate and has sparked criticism from special-interest groups and content creators who feared the bill would cause the government to over-regulate the internet.

All the debate about this bill has been completely polluted and very well-organized by bot campaigns, said Simons, adding that she still gets hundreds of emails weekly from automated campaigns that spread false information about the bill.

People are being sold that this is a censorship bill, or that its like 1984. Its like Stalin. Its like Hitler. Its like the Chinese government. Its all silly, she said.

There were significant flaws in this bill, and weve made them better.

The Liberal bill is supported by the NDP and Bloc Qubcois, but the Conservatives have called it a censorship bill, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre even holding up George Orwells 1984 science-fiction novel about Big Brother in the House while discussing the bill.

Simons, who said she sought to quiet the firestorm of disinformation surrounding the bill, had endorsed an amendment that would have added further protections for individuals who post content online, from comedy acts to instructional videos.

She said she wanted Canadians to actually talk about whats in the bill, as opposed to giving in to fear-mongering.

Ultimately, the House of Commons rejected the amendment, which was also endorsed by YouTube, because MPs felt it would create a loophole for tech giants to avoid contributing to Canadian content.

Bill C-11 does not and will not apply to user-generated content because, simply put, using a social-media service does not make you a broadcaster, Gold said Tuesday.

Rest assured, the legislation will not interfere with or stifle the expression of Canadian voices.

Because the bill isnt something she agrees with, Simons said she will not support it in the final vote. Still, she said she will cast that vote against it knowing that its passage is assured.

At the end of the day, the government ran on this bill. It was part of their election platform, Simons said the Liberals had promised similar legislation during their previous minority-government mandate.

I think theres also an understanding that there are limits to how much the Senate can push back if this is a hill to die on, or if this is profound public-policy disagreement. And the government at the end of the day has to be responsible for its choices.

When the bill is passed, a policy directive will be issued to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which will be tasked with enforcing the bills provisions.

The CRTC is also required to consult with the public, and its reports must be made public, thanks to another Senate amendment that was accepted by the House.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2023.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled the first name of Sen. Paula Simons, and erroneously reported that she would vote in favour of the bill.

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'Done and dusted': Liberals' controversial online streaming bill back ... - Hamilton Spectator

Published April 19, 2023 5:12 p.m. ET

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In a rare showing of all-party support, the federal government's bill to enact the one-time so-called grocery rebate and roll out $2 billion in urgent health-care funding to the provinces and territories passed all stages in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

MPs agreed to move the legislation, tabled in late March and billed as the Cost of Living Relief Act, No. 3," through all stages of debate and study in one fell swoop. This means the bill is considerably closer to becoming law.

Bill C-46 pulls out two specific elements of the 2023 federal budget that the Liberals wanted to see passed in short order.

It amends the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to see the provinces and territories receive their one-time cash injection into their health-care systems. As part of the overall funding deals, this federal offer will see an immediate national and "unconditional" $2-billion top-up to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT).

The legislation also looks to implement the one-time $2.5 billion "grocery rebate" for 11 million low- and modest-income Canadians. Not required to be spent at the grocery store, the rebate is a rebrand of the GST rebate, and is being provided through the GST tax credit system. Once passed, eligible couples with two children will receive a payment of up to $467, while eligible seniors will receive up to $225, and eligible singles will receive up to $234.

Reacting to the House's fast-tracking of the bill, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland called it "excellent news."

Now, Bill C-46 is off to the Senate, where it is possible a similar swift passage could be ahead. It is not expected that all parties will be similarly on side with the incoming omnibus budget implementation bill implementing the rest of the Liberals' spending plans. That piece of legislation is likely to have a longer journey through Parliament.

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Grocery rebate bill passes House with all-party support - CTV News

The West AustralianLiberals have been in a death spiral for years.

Their return from the political wilderness in 2025 needs a team of quality candidates who can sell voters on their vision.

However, their self-described humiliation at the last election has left a shattered party, and people who might otherwise put their hands up to run, instead keeping the Liberals at arms' length.

They need something to break that cycle, and in an intimate event on Thursdaynight they unveiled the plan they hope will do just that.

So will it?

The relatively brief gathering at the party's WA headquarters was headlined by federal Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor and Senator Linda Reynolds, who unveiled "Blueprint 2025".

It's another way the party is trying to present better candidates at state and federal polls which could be held within weeks of each other in 2025, after also voting last year to overhaul its pre-selection process.

"We are listening and we have been listening now for over a year. And we are now addressing the very crystal clear messages that West Australian voters have been shouting at us for quite some time," Senator Reynolds told the crowd, packed into Liberal Party HQ.

The blueprint comes in three parts: a 12-month training course to prepare candidates for the rigours of election campaigning, a program to train young Liberals to help run election campaigns, and another to equip grassroots members to play a greater role in the party.

"There is nothing quite like two impending elections within months of each other, particularly when we will be fielding the most non-incumbent candidates we ever have in a single election. That really does focus our minds," Reynolds said.

In his address, Taylor a New South Wales MP in town for the week acknowledged the party had been on the backfoot in recent elections, and pointed to the need for local candidates better connected to their communities.

"We've gone through a tough trot here and around Australia, and we're going through that in New South Wales at the moment, but I know the way out is to identify those great people, given them the opportunity to do great things, and they will," he said.

Before dealing with any of the other challenges, identifying those "great people" is the first that needs to be addressed.

And it's far from a new one.

Liberals have long complained thatthe lack of a pipeline of strong candidates dates back to the years of the Barnett government, with little action taken in the years since.

Those issues contributed to multiple controversies in 2021, including one in which a candidatequestioned the timing of historic rape allegations against Christian Porterwhich Mr Porter has strenuously denied and another in which thecandidatesuggested a link between 5G and COVID-19.

It's hoped that together with the pre-selection changes designed to take power away from powerbrokers, the Liberals will be able to attract good candidates, nurture them through the process, and have them chosen to run in winnable seats, avoiding any further embarrassing candidate blunders.

That cohort will also be expected to be more diverse than ever before, with the 2021 election post-morterm describing the party's representation as "inadequate" and "detrimental to the full potential of the party".

It's hoped the blueprint will give more people the confidence to run, and convince those on the fence thatputting their hands up won't be a waste of time.

"It is a difficult sell, when you've been humbled by the people of Western Australia," WA federal Liberal leader Michaelia Cash accepted this week.

"We listened, we learned, we picked ourselves up and we knew that we had to change and that is exactly what we have done."

Blueprint 2025 as some in the party acknowledge is a potential solution to just one part of a much broader laundry list of issues for the Liberals to solve.

The party'ssuccess will depend on other factors too,particularlythe policies it presents.

At its best, the blueprint will help candidates present the party, its policies and values in the best light possible.

But at its worst, it could make any shortcomings in those areas even more obvious.

The level of confidence within the party that change is happeningquickly enough varies.

Most have all but accepted that short of a miracle, it will be impossible to form government in 2025.

Instead they're hoping to use the poll as a stepping stone to a potential return in 2029.

Underlying that is a subdued optimism that things are moving in the right direction, albeit a bit slower than some might like to see.

If the party is to have learnt anything though, there's one line from its election review that would have to be ringing in the ears of all involved.

"A recovery in the fortunes of the party is by no means assured and will depend on the work done to reform it as an organisation," former party president Danielle Blain and past vice president Mark Trowell wrote.

It's up to the Liberals' members to decide which fork in the road they choose.

And no blueprint can help with that decision.

Select"Western AustraliaTop Stories"from either the ABC News homepage or the settings menu in the app.

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The West Australian Liberals have a blueprint for their political return, but will it work? - ABC News

Canadian polls show young adults are drifting away from the federal Liberal party. It seems theyre slowly figuring out that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, despite his sympathetic rhetoric, is working against their dream of buying a first home.

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While its taken a while for young and old to realize it, top bankers, retired civil servants, housing analysts, former property developers and housing activists are now declaring the Liberals are directly causing house-price inflation.

And, oh yes, the NDP premier of British Columbia is saying the same thing.

The Bank of Canada began more than a year ago to raise trendsetting interest rates to slow down the inflation caused by unprecedented Liberal spending during the pandemic: A key aim was to reduce skyrocketing housing unaffordability.

As housing analyst Stephen Punwasi puts it: When interest rates began to climb, they throttled credit and brought home prices lower. However, less than a year later (Ottawa) is demonstrating it doesnt have the appetite to follow through on tough love.

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Lets look at how and why the Liberals who have overseen the doubling of Canadian house prices since they came to power eight years ago are still jacking up the cost of a home.

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Many Canadians judged it controversial a few years ago when some said the cost of housing is linked to high in-migration levels, but those days of befuddled accusations are fading.

It explained how B.C.s effort to reduce housing prices and build affordable dwellings will be largely hostage to the federal governments immigration policy.

Wright, an economist, said Trudeaus government routinely raises the almost entirely fallacious argument that Canada has a labour shortage to justify welcoming a record 438,000 new permanent residents in 2022, while adding another 680,000 non-permanent residents, including foreign students and other guest workers.

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When retired top civil servant Don Wright said B.C.s effort to reduce housing prices and build affordable dwellings (and provide health care) will be largely hostage to the federal governments immigration policy, Premier David Eby responded by saying he is absolutely right. (Photo: Eby with MLA Grace Lore and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon) Darren Stone

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The federal government is this month trying to appear helpful toward young people by trotting out its first home savings account, which allows prospective buyers to shelter $40,000 in a tax-free savings plan.

Wong ultimately worries many politicians might actually want the housing crisis, because they believe the Canadian economy is dependent on selling real estate to the world.

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Suspicion about the motivations of politicians does not exactly subside upon learning many members of the Liberal cabinet own second and third homes, often as landlords.

Who is looking after those yearning to enter the housing market? Its exceedingly hard to have confidence it is elected representatives in Ottawa.

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Douglas Todd: Federal Liberals are directly inflating house prices - Vancouver Sun

As the federal Liberal Party seeks to paper over divisions in the party that emerged under Scott Morrisons leadership or its imagined future under Peter Duttons, a distraction is entering stage right.

Katherine Deves, 45, the lawyer known mostly as the former PMs captains pick for last years election and her inflammatory trans-exclusionary radical feminist opinions, is making a bid to join the Liberal Party in Parliament once again.

Ms Deves was one of the most visible figures in last years election after her views (and old tweets) surfaced during the campaign which did not help her in Warringah, a once-safe Liberal seat that became safer still for teal independent Zali Steggall on election night.

Ms Deves preselection drew outrage from leaders of the New South Wales Liberal moderate faction, such as Matt Kean, who called for her to be sacked for repugnant remarks about gender surgery being mutilation.

The decision to install her also raised major questions about Mr Morrisons reputation for genius as a political strategist.

It was even said the former PM had tried to counter a looming wipeout among urban voters by preselecting Ms Deves and waiting for her views on transgender exclusion to forge a new Liberal electoral base in the outer suburbs.

So what do party MPs say about Ms Deves potential comeback?

The Liberals only recently forfeited a piece of the outer suburbs in the Victorian seat of Aston, after which Mr Dutton seemed even to attack cities in his referendum rhetoric.

But Ms Deves tells TND she has been unfairly associated with Mr Morrisons campaign strategy and last years campaign, into which she was installed after a Morrison-engineered logjam stopped the Liberals members from choosing their own candidates but gave him control.

Obviously, I was a captains pick, which did make it more challenging to campaign, she said.

(Now) I have answered the call of senior members in the party (to contest) a democratic preselection.

This time she will face a ballot of party pre-selectors and enters as the significant underdog in the Senate contest slated for Mays end to choose a successor to the Jim Molan that seems likely to be determined by moderates, or forces on the opposite side of the party to the late Senator.

One of Mr Morrisons unsuccessful hand-picked election candidates, Maria Kovacic, is making an audacious bid to quit as party president after only six months and parachute into the Senate even when the state party is leaderless after Dominic Perrottets defeat.

A push to preselect a woman from western Sydney will more likely draw key support behind former Lindsay MP Fiona Scott.

Ms Deves makes an unusual, even last-minute, standard bearer for conservatives, some of whom have in recent days got other things to worry about.

Less shocking tweets by Ms Deves unearthed during last years campaign called trickle-down economics a fallacy and compared Peter Dutton to Lord Voldemort.

Ms Deves cites as an influence the radical Andrea Dworkin, who first came to prominence in the 1980s with strict and exclusive views on gender; she says its not her worldview that has changed.

During the election campaign I received support from all over Australia, and indeed the world, the issue for which I became known resonates with ordinary people who do not wish to see womens rights go backwards and common sense to be discarded, she said.

I intend to continue to stand for the rights of women and girls, parents who are shocked by what is being taught in the education curriculum, [and] protecting the interests of aspirational and hard-working Australian families.

But Ms Deves says she is also prepared to toe the party line as the Opposition Leader fronts a campaign against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Its a pitch to Liberal members she sums up as sensible, conservative and centrist.

Her combative style has made Ms Deves very popular with some in the partys base and Sky News PM commentators (some overlap).

When Mr Duttons stance on the Voice is drawing opposition from Liberals everywhere but Canberra, the prospect of adding further division on the issue of transgender rights is not appealing.

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto suffered a damaging blow to his authority after failing to have MP Moira Deeming expelled after speaking at an anti-trans rally that drew neo-Nazi protesters.

One MP suggests politely that Ms Deves might be the wrong choice for for the times and might distract the focus of debate.

A NSW source, standing opposite Mr Dutton across a divide with party state divisions caused by his campaigning against the Voice, says Ms Deves would be lucky to receive 10 per cent of the vote.

But one Liberal stalwart, former party treasurer Philip Higginson, backed Ms Deves and said members who thought her views would make the party unfocused or less electable were mistaken.

Its going to take a long time to win back the John Howard base, but its only going to take longer if they dont believe they can prosecute an argument, he said.

It seems unlikely that Ms Deves will disappear from public life if she does not secure an upset.

But preselectors will be sending a strong message about whether she can still be a serious candidate for the Liberals whichever way the vote goes.

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Katherine Deves is making a comeback do the Liberals have room? - The New Daily