‘Not on my turn’: Seamus O’Regan rejects Liberals’ disinformation resolution

OTTAWA – The Liberal government is willing to tackle the problem of misinformation, but that will not include regulating the use of sources, Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan said on Wednesday.

He said the government will not move forward on a policy resolution passed at the Liberal Party’s federal convention on May 6. The resolution could venture to regulate journalistic practices, which O’Regan says is impossible.

“We would never allow that to become law,” O’Regan said.

“Not on my watch.”

The resolution speaks to the rise in misinformation, particularly online, and the problems it has created for trust in the government and the media.

It specifically calls for fighting the rise of disinformation through efforts that include holding “online information services” accountable for what they publish and banning the use of untraceable sources.

O’Regan said that while the policy does not directly target media sources, there could be ramifications for them, and therefore for press freedom.

Regulations requiring all sources of published material to be traced could be interpreted as restricting the use of anonymous sources, for example.

“It would be a ramification if it ever became law,” O’Regan said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also dismissed any idea that his government will accept the resolution.

The policy will be part of the official Liberal Party policy for the next eight years, but the government is not required to implement it and the party does not have to campaign on it.

Catherine Evans, a member of the Vancouver Liberal Party, sponsored the resolution.

She told the convention that misinformation is a problem that “is essential to our democracy and must be addressed.”

He told reporters at the event that he did not intend to target journalists with the resolution, but rather the plethora of online sites that make wild claims without any notion of the origins of the information.

The resolution was one of 24 passed at the convention. Some of them were rushed to a final vote before the convention even started, but this one had to go through debate and an initial vote at a policy workshop with a smaller group of liberals.

The final vote on May 6 could have involved all 4,000 Liberals registered for the convention, but fewer than 200 participated. It passed by a show of hands.

The 24 resolutions passed were then ranked by importance by party members when they voted electronically for the new party president. The policy of combating disinformation ranked tenth.

O’Regan’s concerns are shared by many cabinet members, including environment minister Steven Guilbeault. He said in French on Wednesday that political conventions are meant to have vigorous debate, and sometimes members get it right. But in this case, he thinks the members got it wrong.

Toronto Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz tweeted that she ranked it second among resolutions, behind only a guaranteed basic income.

In an interview on Wednesday, Dzerowicz said he does not support anything that interferes with press freedom or journalistic integrity, including regulating the sources used in online news.

But Dzerowicz said misinformation and misinformation are two of his biggest concerns, and something he’s also hearing a lot about from his constituents.

“It’s something that worries me a lot,” he said.

Policy resolutions at a convention should not be taken as being absorbed and adopted by the government, he said. But this raises concerns about a problem and opens the door for a conversation about how to fix it.

O’Regan said she has to reflect on the fact that this policy was adopted and is being immediately disavowed. He said he doesn’t know if the people who voted for him fully understood the ramifications of what he might do.

Liberals have previously been accused of trying to censor online sites through Bill C-11, which was signed into law last month.

The new law seeks to enforce Canadian content provisions placed on traditional radio or television broadcasters, on online sites like YouTube or Spotify when they broadcast commercial content.

Conservatives have called it a piece of censorship legislation that will allow the government to dictate which online sites can and cannot post.

But liberals say that’s not remotely what the new law does. Rather, the government says it makes sure Canadian artists get their fair share in online broadcasts within Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 10, 2023.

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