Canada’s House of Commons adopts motion in favour of net neutrality

The Canadian House of Commons adopted a private member’s motion (M-168) aimed at encouraging lawmakers to support net neutrality protections in the country. Currently, net neutrality is not acknowledged explicitly in any Canadian law. Instead, lawmakers have used Section 27 (2) and Section 36 of the Telecommunications Act to argue in favour of net neutrality protections or to argue against the need for formal net neutrality laws. The motion, sponsored by MP for Oakville John Oliver, is not a formal bill but it recognizes ‘that Canada has strong net neutrality rules in place that are grounded in the Telecommunications Act and enforced by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’ and also ‘call on the government to include net neutrality as a guiding principle of the upcoming Telecommunications Act and Broadcasting Act reviews in order to explore opportunities to further enshrine in legislation the principles of neutrality in the provision and carriage of all telecommunications services.’