When you opened your mailbox yesterday or this morning, you may have had something from Souris-Moose Mountain MP Dr. Robert. Kitchen. His latest communication with his constituents centers around the controversial Bill C-10 and changes to it. 

The bill, which started out innocently enough according to Kitchen, has since morphed into something that could allow the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to influence content uploaded to social media platforms. It was introduced by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault in November of last year. 

"It's an internet censorship bill is what they're putting forward," Dr. Kitchen said. "It's a vote against free speech." 

The bill, according to Dr. Kitchen, didn't start out this way. In fact, it began as an idea to level the playing field for Canadian content creators in the digital age. It would regulate what streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon show on their service, dictating that they show a certain amount of Canadian content and be subject to similar rules to broadcasters. 

"What has come about and expanded upon is the issue it started to infringe upon Canadian's free speech," Dr. Kitchen said. "About a month or so ago, they deleted a part of the bill which would've protected Canadians in their internet use and their social media."

These changes are the major source of contention between the Liberal government and the Conservative opposition at the moment. The CRTC, said Dr. Kitchen, would be able to regulate things posted on YouTube and TikTok among other social media platforms. Conservative leader Erin O'Toole has said he will repeal the bill if the Conservatives are elected. 

"The biggest thing is, it's a huge and massive abuse of power," said Dr. Kitchen. "It's giving power to the CRTC to regulate their social media platforms. That should never be on the table. Not that I'm a big social media person but the bottom line is the ability to say what you think but also to have other people say what they think... to me, it is a huge issue of regulating that social media."

Dr. Kitchen added the Liberals, with the support of the Bloc Quebecois, had recently limited debate on the issue in committee. He also said this might be because the Liberals plan to call an election, and if they do that while the bill is still in committee, the bill would die.