Senator says Bill C-10 cannot be fixed and that it needs a 'stake through the heart'

Senator David Richards compared Bill C-10 to book burnings, saying that the controversial censorship bill didn't just need to be amendments, but that it instead needed a "stake through the heart."

According to Blacklock's Reporter, Richards, who is also a novelist, said: "I will always and forever stand against any bill that subjects freedom of expression to the doldrums of government oversight."

The bill recently passed in Parliament with widespread support from all parties except the Conservatives, who have staunchly opposed it.

"I was to give a reading for the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia next month until I saw the pledge I must sign about using language that might offend or words that might trigger unwanted emotion in an audience member," Richards explained.

"If I was to use words that might trigger unwanted emotion my reading would be halted and I would be prevented from completing my reading."

"I did not sign this pledge and I will not read," he continued. "This sanctimony is the hidden foundation of this bill, I think, and the hidden foundation of many bills that have come to this chamber."

Bill C-10 aims to give the CRTC overwhelming new powers, something that former vice-chair of the CRTC Peter Menzies called a violation of the rights of ordinary citizens.

With Bill C-10 currently going through debate in the Senate and not being approved for summer hearings, the bill could possibly die on the vine, if an election is held in the late summer or early fall.

If an election does not take place, the bill will continue through Senate.