QUESTION PERIOD — Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Social Media
June 4, 2019
Once again, my question is for the Leader of the Government in the Senate. On May 13, Prime Minister Trudeau met with Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google. The Prime Minister’s Office issued a press release, which stated, and I quote:
They discussed how governments and digital platforms can take action to stop the Internet being used as a tool to organize and promote terrorism and violent extremism. The Prime Minister urged that more must be done to improve trust and accountability in the digital world.
The Prime Minister also expressed appreciation for Google’s contribution to the Canadian economy . . . .
Senator, why did the Prime Minister not take this opportunity to ask Google to contribute to the government’s tax base by paying income tax in Canada?
I thank the honourable senator for his question. This is a question he has asked from time to time. Let me simply reassure him it is the Government of Canada’s view that the appropriate way to deal with social media and the platforms that he references — not only Google but others by implication — are best dealt in concert with other like-minded economies, and that the Government of Canada is pursuing those avenues for the question that he’s raising.
