New digital hate watchdogs under the Liberal government’s online harms bill would cost $201-million over the next five years, an independent parliamentary report estimates – drawing criticism from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who pledges to scrap the legislation if he becomes Prime Minister.
The PBO also did not look at other potential costs arising from the bill, which would also allow people to complain about hate speech online to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner said the online harms bill will spend millions on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “useless 330 person censorship bureaucracy instead of using that money to hire police, protect Canadians, and lock up criminals.”
She said social-media companies will be required to help cover the costs of the new commission and ombudsperson. Emily Laidlaw, the University of Calgary’s Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity law, said the bodies need to be established swiftly.