Constitutional expert calls for Canadians to stop gov’t ‘assault’ on internet freedoms

(LifeSiteNews) – One of Canada’s top constitutional legal experts warned that Canadians must remain vigilant and that being lazy is “no excuse” to stand by and allow the “takeover” of “free speech” online by government laws.

“Apathy means the death of freedom,” wrote John Carpay, who heads the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), in a recent opinion piece posted by the Western Standard. Carpay spared no words in blasting a host of new bills that he said threaten people’s liberty.

“As we enter 2026, Canada’s federal government is quietly but surely transforming Canada’s centuries-old traditions of free speech and privacy rights into something revocable at the pleasure of the CRTC, politicians and bureaucrats,” he wrote.

“Laziness and naivete are no excuse for Canadians to condone this gradual government takeover of our previously free and open internet.”

Carpay said that both the Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11, and the Online News Act, Bill C-18, which both became law in 2023, “should be repealed immediately.”

He also said that MPs of all parties “should reject” other troubling bills, including the Strong Borders Act, the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act, and the Combating Hate Act.

“Apathy means the death of freedom,” he noted.

Carpay went over a host of new proposed laws brought forth by the governing Liberals under Prime Minister Mark Carney.

The Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act (Bill C-8), Carpay said, “would empower the federal cabinet to kick Canadians off the internet.”

“The government claims that it wants to ‘modernize’ Canada’s cybersecurity framework and protect it against threats of ‘interference, manipulation, disruption or degradation,’” he wrote.

“Sadly, it remains unclear whether ‘disinformation’ (as defined by government) would constitute ‘interference, manipulation, disruption or degradation,’” he added about Bill C-8.

Carpay has, as noted by LifeSiteNews, warned about the many bills involving freedom of speech that became law under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and new ones from Carney.

He said that Bill C-11 “undermines net neutrality.” Bill C-11 mandates that Big Tech companies pay to publish Canadian content on their platforms. As a result, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, blocked all access to news content in Canada.

Carpay also warned about two recent bills before the House of Commons: Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, Bill C-8, and Bill C-9, as well as the Combating Hate Act.

Bill C-9, the Combating Hate Act, has been blasted by constitutional experts as allowing empowered police and the government to go after those it deems have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way.

Carpay said that both C-8 and C-9 together “collectively grant government unprecedented control over online speech, news, streaming services, and digital infrastructure.”

Amendments to Bill C-9 have been condemned by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, who penned an open letter to the Carney Liberals, blasting the proposed amendment and calling for its removal.

In recent years, under Liberal Party rule, the laws passed or introduced by the Liberal government seem to coincide with what some of Agenda 2030 proposes, those being digital IDs and restrictions on internet freedom.