(LifeSiteNews) – Jordan Peterson, one of Canada’s most prominent and well-known anti-woke psychologists, warned that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s dystopian Online Harms Act will create a pathway to allow for “Orwellian Thought Crime” to become the norm in the nation.
“Canadians Wake the hell up,” Peterson wrote on X last Thursday in reply to a posting from Trudeau’s Justice Minister and Attorney General Arif Virani about his Online Harms Act.
“This is your federal Attorney General literally publicizing the fact that he wants to grant a new authority the power to arrest you on the suspicion that you might at some point commit an (undefinable) “hate crime. This is not only the most authoritarian law ever contemplated in a western democracy but truly the most authoritarian law conceivable.”
Virani posted May 31 on X, “We need to define hatred in the Criminal Code. We need strict penalties for violent acts of hate. We need the ability to stop an anticipated hate crime from occurring. The Online Harms Act does all of this. The Conservatives need to get on board. Now.”
Peterson observed that what Virani is championing Canadian lawmakers to adopt via the Online Harms Act amounts to “Not just the Orwellian ‘Thought Crime’ But the mere possibility of a thought crime.”
“And he pronounces the need for such legislation as if anyone who opposes it is evil,” he added.
Peterson called on Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre to “take note” of Virani’s words.
The Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63, will target internet speech retroactively if it becomes law. The law, if passed, could lead to large fines and even jail time for vaguely defined online “hate speech” infractions.
Bill C-63 was introduced by Virani in the House of Commons in February and was immediately blasted by constitutional experts as troublesome.
Recently, as reported by LifeSiteNews, during Rumble’s first-ever free-speech-centered live event, speakers including Donald Trump Jr. critiqued Trudeau’s Online Harms Act.
As reported by LifeSiteNews recently, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk remarked that it is “insane” that the Trudeau government’s proposed “Online Harms” bill would target internet speech retroactively if it becomes law.
The bill calls for the creation of a Digital Safety Commission, a digital safety ombudsperson, and a Digital Safety Office, all tasked with policing internet content, including already illegal internet content such as child exploitation material.
However, the bill also seeks to police “hate” speech online with broad definitions, severe penalties, and dubious tactics.
Details of the new legislation to regulate the internet show the bill could lead to more people jailed for life for “hate crimes,” or fined $50,000 and jailed for posts that the government defines as “hate speech” based on gender, race, or other categories.
The bill, if passed, will modify existing laws and amend the Criminal Code as well as the Canadian Human Rights Act, in what the Liberals claim will target certain cases of internet content removal, notably those involving child sexual abuse and pornography.
However, the bill also seeks to police “hate” speech online with broad definitions, severe penalties, and dubious tactics.
Besides Bill C-63, other Trudeau government laws impacting the internet have become law, such as Bill C-11, known as the Online Streaming Act.
LifeSiteNews recently reported that the implementation of Bill C-11, which would mandate the regulation of online platforms such as YouTube and Netflix to ensure they meet government requirements, has been delayed until late 2025.
Trudeau’s other internet censorship law, the Online News Act, was passed by the Senate in June 2023.
Should Bill C-63 become law, there is a possibility that it and all other Trudeau bills relating to the Internet could be rescinded.
Recent polls show that the scandal-plagued federal government has sent the Liberals into a nosedive with no end in sight. Per a recent LifeSiteNews report, according to polls, in a federal election held today, Conservatives under Poilievre, who has promised to rescind all of Trudeau’s internet censorship bills, would win a majority in the House of Commons over Trudeau’s Liberals.