Ottawa

About that ‘cyber-bullying’ bill

The hashing out of C-13

A week ago, the Harper government introduced, in its own words, “legislation to address criminal behaviour associated with cyberbullying.”

That seems basically to be true: C-13 does, indeed, deal with the issue of cyber-bullying. It’s just that it would seem to also address other matters.

The Chronicle-Herald’s Paul McLeod here and here, the CBC’s Andre Mayer here, Postmedia’s Tobi Cohen here and the Canadian Press here all review the contents of the bill. Parts of C-13 harken somewhat to C-30, the lawful access legislation that went away after Vic Toews said that unfortunate thing he said.

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist offers his thoughts on C-13 here, here and here. The editorial boards of the Globe, Star and Chronicle-Herald explain their concerns.

The bill will come before the House for its first day of debate this afternoon after Question Period. Here presumably is where a committee study should be valuable. A review from the privacy commissioner might also provide some objective consideration.

Looking for more?

Get the Best of Maclean's sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for news, commentary and analysis.
  • By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.