A director general from the Industry Department said Bill C-8, which would allow the government to prohibit telecom providers from providing internet services to individuals in certain circumstances, would not be used to censor Canadians’ free speech.
“Individual speech has no bearing on the ability of Bell Canada or Rogers to maintain their network or reliability of their services,” Andre Arbour, the Department of Industry’s director general of telecommunications and internet policy, testified at the House of Commons public safety committee on Oct. 28.
Bill C-8, An Act respecting cyber security, would allow the government to “prohibit a telecommunications service provider from using all products and services provided by a specified person” if it “believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to do so to secure the Canadian telecommunications system against any threat.”…