SYDNEY, Nova Scotia — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comments Thursday at an event in Cape Breton saying his government would require age verification for adult content if elected.
Poilievre’s comments about the implementation of an age verification system similar to the one proposed by religious conservatives in the US were widely reported in the media. When Poilievre was asked on Wednesday whether a ruling Conservative Party would require some form of age verification, he simply said “yes.”
The debate over age verification in Canada currently centers on Senate Bill S-210, introduced by Canada’s top anti-porn activist, unelected Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne. The bill would require an unspecified method of age verification for adult websites, and would make sites criminally liable if they failed to verify a user’s age.
According to the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader is “proposing that adults should give their ID and personal information to sketchy websites, or create a digital ID card so adults can surf the Internet wherever they want,” according to the CBC. reported.
“That is something we are against,” Trudeau stated unequivocally.
Confusing matters, after Poilievre’s comments, one of his spokespersons told CBC: “The party does not support requiring users to verify their age via a digital ID.”
The back and forth between the leaders of Canada’s two main parties comes in the wake of Trudeau to announce that the government’s upcoming Online Harms Bill, aimed at tackling hate speech, terrorist content and violent material on the internet, could be introduced as early as next week.