(LifeSiteNews) – Conservative politicians, political pundits, and other groups wasted no time blasting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s internet censorship legislation Bill C-11 becoming law yesterday, noting how it was as a dark day for Canada and for internet freedom.

Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre said the Trudeau Liberals were “power” hungry in getting the Senate to vote to agree to regulate Canada’s internet. He noted that although Bill C-11 passed, he promised to repeal it should he become prime minister.

“The power-hungry Trudeau Liberals have rammed through their censorship bill into law. But this isn’t over, not by a long shot,” Poilievre tweeted.

“A Poilievre government will restore freedom of expression online & repeal Trudeau’s C-11 censorship law.”

Canada’s top pro-life group Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), which has called out Bill C-11 before, said the bill becoming law yesterday in effect means Trudeau has taken “over” the internet.

“Bill C-11 has just passed in the Senate. This bill is simply the Trudeau Liberals’ takeover of the internet,” CLC tweeted.

“The bill allows the government to determine what Canadians see online. Canadian freedom of speech and the free exchange of ideas are now under assault like never before. Canadians beware, you will very soon see online only what the government wants you to see.”

Online political pundit Via Frei tweeted, “Canada rest in peace. Time of death? 6:55 p.m. ET.”

Frei then also wrote on Twitter that “Trudeau has successfully turned Canada into a North Korean hermit kingdom.”

“All done under the letter of the law, so it can’t be a ‘dictatorship,” he added.

Alberta political commentator Paul Mitchell said the passage of Bill C-11 means Canada is now a “Banana Republic.”

“The Liberal Banana Republic Censorship Bill C-11 has passed. Trudeau’s Ottawa keeps getting worse, and Alberta should consider its options. Fire Ottawa. Free Alberta,” Mitchell tweeted.

Bill C-11 passed via a motion with 52 votes for, 16 against, and one abstention, with the Senate forgoing all their previously recommended amendments. All Conservative-appointed senators present in the Senate chamber voted “no” on the motion, and only one senator appointed by Trudeau voted against it.

Later Thursday, the bill got Royal Assent.

Under the new law, it will now be up to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to produce the details on how the bill will be enforced, which critics have said could take years of back-and-forth debate.

The bill itself has faced immense criticism for its implications on freedom of speech, to the point that even Big Tech giants YouTube and Apple, which both have a history of enacting their own forms of censorship on users, have previously urged the Senate to stall the bill.

In practice, Bill C-11 now mandates that the CRTC oversee regulating online content on platforms such as YouTube and Netflix to ensure that such platforms are promoting Canadian content in accordance with a variety of CRTC guidelines.

C-11 will create a ‘wall’ around the internet just like China, says former federal minister

People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader Maxime Bernier, who while a member of the Conservatives was a cabinet minister, in a statement sent to LifeSiteNews about the passing of Trudeau’s C-11 said that while the Senators are not voted in by the people, they did “cave” in doing their duty.

“In the case of Bill C-11, it’s unfortunate that the majority of Senators caved in and voted for the bill even after the government had rejected a crucial amendment proposed by senators Julie Miville-Dechêne and Paula Simons to clarify that it would not be used to regulate independent creators posting videos on YouTube and other platforms, which would be a clear violation of free expression,” Bernier said.

“The Senate has no democratic legitimacy to reject a bill that the government clearly wants to adopt, but it has a crucial role to play in our parliamentary system in making sure all bills are constitutional, are clear and consistent, and do not violate Canadians’ basic rights and freedoms.”

Bernier also noted how the passage of C-11 is a “first step in creating a wall around the Canadian internet like the Chinese government does in China.”

“The bill is also very dangerous because of this uncertainty about regulating user content.”

Michael Geist, who serves as the research chair of internet and e-commerce law at the University of Ottawa, blasted C-11’s becoming law as well, noting how some lobby groups, such as the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expression, have already called for “social media” rules right after the bill was passed.

“Within minutes of Bill C-11 receiving royal assent last night, cultural lobby group points to the need for the CRTC to establish social media rules,” Geist tweeted.

“That didn’t take long: Canadian cultural group’s release on Bill C-11 already calls on the CRTC to establish rules on social media. This is the bill @pablorodriguez built with lobby groups ready to demand user content regulation supported by the plain language in the bill,” he wrote in another tweet.

“The Senate passed Bill C-11 tonight in a vote that became a foregone conclusion,” he wrote in another tweet.

Geist has been a vocal opponent of Bill C-11, saying the Trudeau Liberals rejecting the amendments to the bill “has left no doubt about the government’s true intent with Bill C-11: retain power and flexibility to regulate user content.”

The National Citizens Inquiry (NCI), which is a citizen-led and citizen-funded independent initiative investigating the government’s COVID policies and mandates imposed on people in the past few years, blasted the passage of Bill C-11 with a long statement.

“Bill C11 is a travesty to any free nation. While the government speaks of protecting Canadian culture it also states that Canada is a post-national country with no culture,” the NCI said.

“The NCI is currently being censored and shadow banned in social media and instead of increasing censorship like the WEF proposed at its recent meetings in Davos, Canadians need to see regulation stopping censorship in the media including social media.”

Free to Fly, a group of concerned Canadian airline pilots and flight attendants who fought COVID jab travel mandates, opposed the passage of Bill C-11 as well.

“C-11 just received Royal Assent, a dark attempt by your government to silence citizens they’re supposed to serve. Continue to exercise your God-given freedoms, daily. The state does not give and take these away. #C11 #cdnpoli,” the group tweeted.

Bill C-11 was initially introduced to the House of Commons by Rodriguez on February 2, 2022, and is just one of many similar pieces of legislation put forth by Trudeau’s Liberals since they took power in 2015.

Late last year, the Trudeau government decided to fast-track another content-regulation bill, C-18, titled the “Online News Act,” by rushing it through the House of Commons. This bill is also now before the Senate.