In 2021, Bill C-10 was on the table, a controversial piece of legislation that aimed to regulate online platforms like YouTube and Spotify under rules originally designed for radio and television. It didn’t pass. Erin O’Toole rightly raised concerns during the federal election campaign, and the bill died on the order paper.​ But Ottawa couldn’t let it go. So, they brought it back. Dressed it up. Gave it a new number. And passed it anyway.

Enter Bill C-11—and with it, a new wave of digital censorship, bureaucratic confusion, and algorithmic suppression.

Let’s be clear: this law doesn’t support Canadian content creators. It smothers them.

What Bill C-11 Actually Does

At its core, C-11 gives the CRTC (Canada’s broadcasting regulator) the power to force platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and TikTok to prioritize "Canadian content"—CanCon—in their recommendation algorithms.​ But here’s the catch: what qualifies as CanCon is decided by a government bureaucracy, and the rules are outdated and arbitrary. Many of Canada’s top digital creators—like JJ McCullough, SomeOrdinaryGamers, or Linus Media Group—don’t qualify as “Canadian content” under these rules, even if they are Canadian, live in Canada, and speak directly to a Canadian audience.

Worse still, even if creators do qualify, the forced changes to platform algorithms don’t help. YouTube’s algorithm is designed to match viewers with content they’re most likely to engage with—but if it's forced to show people content they didn’t ask for just because it's labeled "Canadian," the algorithm sees viewers skipping or clicking away. That signals to YouTube that the content isn’t worth promoting—and it gets buried.

So instead of boosting Canadian creators, Bill C-11 actually suppresses them in Canada and abroad.

And Then Came Bill C-18

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If Bill C-11 is misguided, Bill C-18 is outright embarrassing.

C-18, also known as the “Online News Act,” demands that companies like Meta (Facebook) pay Canadian news outlets every time someone shares a link to their article. Ottawa calls it a “link tax.” But what it really is, is a desperate bailout for failing legacy media—and a completely backwards approach to technology. 

Meta responded by removing Canadian news links entirely from their platforms—a predictable and entirely legal move. Instead of ensuring Canadians had better access to trustworthy journalism, Bill C-18 just made sure they saw less. Meanwhile, Ottawa completely ignored embedded article previews—like the kind you see on Microsoft Bing or Apple News—and focused only on Meta, proving once again that this government does not understand how the internet works.

Canada's culture is vibrant and its potential is yet to be unleashed.

We understand where the concern about Canada's cultural sovereignty in the digital age is coming from, the problem is every single one of the establishment parties is approaching it all wrong.

The Liberal Party’s laws and proposals often cause more harm than good, while the Conservatives cling to a glorified version of the past—even when it's controversial or harmful—just to score easy political points. The NDP routinely sides with the Liberals on these issues, and the Bloc only raises concerns when Quebec’s interests are directly affected. The Green Party, despite good intentions, lacks a tech-conscious platform for the digital age. Meanwhile, the People's Party and United Party rail against censorship only when it impacts them, while pushing blatantly authoritarian policies of their own.

The Forward Party will end the regulations on 'Canadianness' and focus on promoting Canadians' creativity in a way that benefits all content creators, not just a dying legacy media. To do that we have a comprehensive plan.

Renew our Digital Future

We are proposing to fundamentally alter how the CRTC functions. Instead of developing and enforcing regulations that decide what gets their "Canadian stamp of approval", the CRTC will focus its resources into funding promising Canadian proposals and promoting their products. The internet has proven that Canadian creativity was able to gain wide global appeal without the help of the CRTC. Not to mention recommendation algorithms already tend to favour content that is geographically close to the audience. Government should listen to these creators, learn from their successes, and work to support aspiring creators.

The details of how such a system would work are under research. Broadly speaking though, the focus would be on:

• Fostering non-political productions that provide constructive content across a variety of topics.

• Streamlining and speeding up funding decisions. To keep up with the speed of internet culture.

• Dedicating a significant portion of available funding to small and medium independent producers.

The CBC

We believe that a publicly funded news & media organization not beholden to profit motives can provide Canadians with a valuable perspective on Canadian and world events. However this only works if there are strict neutrality guardrails in place to ensure it does not turn into a political tool. The Forward Party will maintain the CBC's funding and strengthen its neutrality mandate.

Local News

Local news outlets have been dying a slow painful death, this fact has been documented endlessly. Unless you live in a major city, you likely know more about provincial and federal news than you do about your local paper.

This has become quite common due quick spread of the internet. Higher level news (and independent digital news) outlets are more likely to get shared (and therefore seen) than local level news, causing them to slowly lose readership and revenue. Unless a person goes out of their way to follow local news outlets, their visibility is limited.

Local news are the foundation that higher level news often build on, and provide valuable information to the communities they are based in. Bill C-18 claims to fix that but does little more than overreach defeating its stated purpose in the process. As it stands the CRTC is building a system that risks consolidating the news industry in Canada even further. This needs to stop.

We’re actively consulting with journalists and industry experts to better understand the needs of local news. While we’re still in the process of developing a detailed plan, we felt it was important to raise the issue early. If you have insights or recommendations, we welcome your input.

Canada's Perceived Culture Problem

We share a lot of our culture with the US. That is all it boils down to.

There are differences between Canada and the US of course, but from outside the continent looking in, we look more like variations on the same identity than distinct identities.

Many in the political class view this as a problem, then blow it out of proportion. Liberal politicians are trying to build a distinct identity around a 'Canadian' brand of progressivism out of fear. We see bills C-11 and C-18 as a result of that fear. The problem with cultural policies based on fear however is that they tend to over-compensate and in the process suffocate the living culture into being artificially stagnant and weak.

We don't see it that way. We see Canada as an integral part of a broad, vibrant North American culture. A culture that Canadians contribute plenty to:

• Singers: Carly Rae Jepsen, Celine Dione, The Weeknd, & more

• Actors: Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, The Ryans, & more

• Movies: Vancouver and Quebec contribute a lot

• Video games: Montreal contributes a lot

• Internet: Canadians have a very visible presence in every subculture

• Politics: Movements that start in Canada often spread to the US too (for better or for worse)

  
  

We want to boost Canadians' ability to express their creativity in all fields of media, art, and thought. Meanwhile, the Conservative politicians view on the Canadian identity is bland. It appears they would rather put up Canada for sale and call it freedom than promote Canadian's creativity. The only times they celebrate Canadian culture is at public holidays where they stop at remembering and glorifying the past.

We believe in empowering people, not legacy media empires clinging to power. We will stand up for actual creators, actual artists, and actual freedom of expression in the digital age. We will protect your right to reach an audience—not have it crushed under layers of outdated regulation. And we’ll do it because we trust Canadians to create, to speak, to decide. Not government censors. Not crumbling media cartels. Not broken algorithms.