I thought that perhaps they would wait until the Speech From the Throne was adopted before they started rolling them out, but oh no – they’ve already started tabling Private Members’ Bills. For the most part, they look pretty dull and have a lot to do with trying to get tax breaks or exemptions for one group or another, but there are a couple of other ones that crept through. Like C-209.
C-209, or “An Act to prevent the use of the Internet to distribute pornographic material involving children” was tabled in the House on Friday by NDP MP Peter Stoffer, as part of a raft of Private Members’ Bills that he tabled that afternoon. From Hansard:
Mr. Speaker, we see governments at all levels around the world moving toward this type of legislation. One of the most despicable crimes we have in the world involve pedophiles and individuals who use the Internet to lure unsuspecting children for despicable acts.
The premise of my bill would give ISP providers some responsibility to monitor the sites and encourage them to inform authorities of any information they may run across so direct action can be taken.
If the Conservatives believe in being tough on crime, this is something they should be working on immediately to help reduce child pornography on the Internet.
On the surface, it looks pretty benign, but there are a lot of people in the queer community that get nervous anytime someone starts suggesting censorship of the internet, especially when it comes to porn. This is one that they’ll definitely be keeping an eye on.
Otherwise, the economy dominated Question Period, and Scott Brison was once again front and centre in the Liberal attack. And the era of civility seems to be slipping, as the heckling was back during QP, but as of yet, the government hasn’t loosed their partisan attack dogs. There was a bit of interesting cross-party co-operation taking place late in QP, when members from all three opposition parties each took turns asking the government about Omar Khadr – only to receive non-answers that stretched stretched credulity, but that’s par for the course.
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