Margaret Atwood criticises Canada censorship bill

Who can guess which Canadian public figure wrote the following about Justin Trudeau’s new speech bill? “If this account of the bill is true, it’s Lettres de Cachet all over again. The possibilities for revenge false accusations + thoughtcrime stuff are sooo inviting! Trudeau’s Orwellian online harms bill”. No, it’s not Jordan Peterson. In fact, it’s novelist Margaret Atwood, who criticised the Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63, on X.

We’ll give her a pass on using possibly the most over-used cliché in the English language to describe the law (“Orwellian”), but her concerns appear to be well-justified. Bill C-63 would allow judges to imprison adults for life if they advocate for genocide and impose house arrest if there were reasonable grounds to believe a defendant “will commit” an offence. Euthanasia, censorship and open borders — all seems well in the Great White North!