Government won't adopt Liberal policy critics warned could hurt press freedom, PM says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government will not adopt a controversial Liberal Party resolution to target disinformation that critics denounce as potentially dangerous to freedom of the press in Canada. 

Liberal Party members passed the "combating disinformation in Canada" policy resolution on Saturday. The proposal requested that the government "explore options to hold online information services accountable for the veracity of material published on their platforms, and to limit publication only to material whose sources can be traced."

Trudeau committed on Tuesday to never implementing the policy. 

"Liberals, like all Canadians, are right to be worried about misinformation and disinformation and wanting to make sure that Canadians are protected from it," Trudeau told journalists on the way into a cabinet meeting. "However, that policy is not a policy we would ever implement."

Trudeau's comment followed criticism that the proposal could open the door to the government having control over Canadian media or force them to reveal confidential sources. Registered Liberal Party members passed the resolution on Saturday at the Liberal convention without any debate. Those members then ranked the resolution tenth out of 24 in order of priority.

WATCH | Government won't 'implement' combating disinformation resolution passed at Liberal convention, PM says:

The resolution is non-binding, which means the government had the option of ignoring it altogether. 

"We will never harm journalists' capacity to do the professional independent work that they do," said Trudeau. 

The author of the resolution, B.C. Liberal Catherine Evans, said the resolution is intended to target anonymous posts online containing disinformation, not target "reputable journalists." Evans said the policy is meant to apply to social media platforms, websites that contain disinformation and people who call themselves "journalists" but "post information they have not verified."

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist on Monday called the proposal "dangerous." He said it shouldn't be up to the federal government to decide "who is a good journalist and who is a bad journalist" and come up with new regulations for those seen as "not good."

Conservative heritage critic Rachael Thomas said the policy, if adopted, would liken Canada to "places like North Korea, China, Iran and Russia." She said the resolution could lead to state-run media and censorship in Canada. 

WATCH | Conservative MP calls Liberal policy resolution 'disheartening':

Trudeau also took aim at Facebook parent company Meta for a company representative's testimony at a parliamentary committee on Monday.

The representative from Meta said the company is working on blocking news on Facebook and Instagram from Canadian users if Bill C-18, which tech giants have fought against, passes. The bill first tabled in June 2022 would force digital giants to negotiate deals that would compensate Canadian media companies, potentially including the CBC, for linking to or repurposing their online content.