‘Fear is the path to the Dark Side’ — Who is really behind Erin O’Toole’s May the Fourth tweet?

Disney’s intellectual property hints at who is really looking to kill bill C-10

Budding funnyman and leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, Erin O’Toole, has refined his stand-up from potty humour to topical.

For May the Fourth, O’Toole shared a Star Wars-themed tweet taking a jab at the Liberals proposed Bill C-10.

Here’s the tweet:

The tweet features the official (and copyrighted) Star Wars theme, as well as well-known Disney intellectual property, R2-D2. It seems a stretch to assume that O’Toole would risk potential litigation for a government goof.

And I think the reality is much more fitting of the Galactic Empire — this isn’t the work of the Conservative Party of Canada — this is Disney.

There has been a lot of hand-wringing when it comes to Bill C-10 and a perception that it’s an attempt to crack down on freedom of speech for computer-literate Canadians.

But Bill C-10 says nothing about regulating free speech on the internet and focuses — quite clearly — on navigating a new world of broadcast mass media.

Of course, like all government documents, the bill is written in jargon-filled legalese better interpreted by lawyers and politicians than hobbyist news junkies.

The charter statement for the bill, expressly addresses it’s position on internet free speech:

Users of social media services who upload programs for sharing with other users, and are not affiliated with the service provider, would not be subject to broadcasting regulation in that respect.

I’m no lawyer, but that seems pretty clear. Also, it just seems logistically impossible and wasteful to try to thought police everything that gets said on the internet on top of the content restriction already employed by Twitter and Facebook.

The largest part of the charter statement focuses on new regulatory requirements for broadcasting services — which now include services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Crave, and, of course, Disney+.

The provisions aim to establish a fair competitive environment for online and traditional broadcasting services in Canada, in the context of changing market trends that have not been favourable to traditional broadcasters.

As a person who hasn’t had cable in years and exclusively accesses broadcast content via streaming services, it makes sense. It sounds a little bit like the rules already imposed on traditional broadcasters in Canada, particularly with respect to the creation of Canadian content. Speaking of which:

The proposed amendments will also advance the Act’s cultural objectives by helping to ensure that all broadcasting undertakings contribute equitably to the implementation of the objectives of the broadcasting policy for Canada, which may include support for the production of Canadian content.

Canada has always felt underfunded in terms of media. The same bands get played over and over and over until everyone low-key hates listening to The Arkells but continues to do so out of a grudging respect for CanCon.

Our best and brightest stars move to the States at the drop of a hat. While most conscription-aged American men were hopping the border to avoid Vietnam, Neil Young left Canada for a massively successful career.

Drake, Bieber, Rogen, Ryan Reynolds, some of Hollywood’s biggest celebs are some of Canada’s best exports.

Steven Guilbeault responded to O’Toole with his own Star Wars-themed tweet, showing that neither official party of Canada is all that familiar with Star Wars.

Regardless, it makes me wonder who is really behind O’Toole’s tweet.

Do you honestly think he shelled out to license Disney’s intellectual property — an IP that has always fetched a premium — for a fifteen-second video?

I would be skeptical that Disney would license Star Wars to any political cause with cash.

In my opinion — this seems like the work of a real empire: Disney. Their motive? To avoid having to pay for licensing and avoid taxation. And riling people up about freedom of speech is a small price to pay to maximize profits.

If there’s clear language to show a push to somehow take freedom of speech off the internet in Bill C-10, please: