The much-maligned Bill C-10 that is working its way through the Canadian House of Commons is set to receive a unique legal review. The review will result in a delay in the bill's progress to becoming a law. Bill C-10 is an act to amend the Canadian Broadcasting Act. At it's core, the bill would see certain internet streaming services, i.e Netflix, come under many of the same regulatory conditions of traditional broadcasters such as television and radio. There are also a number of items in the act meant to aid in protecting indigenous language.

With these topics being at the heart of the bill, Cypress Hills-Grasslands Member of Parliament, Jeremy Patzer, said, in it's earlier drafts C-10 was not a terrible bill.

"There are some interesting points in there," said Mr. Patzer, "There are some good aspects to the bill, but it's when they lumped in some of these other parts into it as well. That’s where it especially becomes problematic."

The aspects that Mr. Patzer finds problematic, as do many others including Premier Scott Moe, are amendments to the bill that appeared after C-10 returned from committee.

While in committee, a clause that would have excluded 'user-generated content' on social media from the scope of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications (CRTC) was removed. The removal of the clause means the CRTC could theoretically 'regulate' the content shared on social media by everyday Canadian citizens. With the power to regulate individual user's social media, the CRTC could possibly pull down social media posts critical of government, or any post it deemed appropriate to pull down. Or, it could do absolutely nothing. The vagueness of the bill without the clause is what troubles many of C-10's critics.

"They originally drafted the bill, that had explicit protection for individual users on social media. But when the bill went to committee, they removed that clause and that is one of the big things that people are talking about - that experts are talking about - and that is a huge problem. It basically gives the CRTC, or a bunch of bureaucrats, the authority to be the ones who are regulating what's on the Internet," Mr. Patzer shared. "The bill is so broad and it's really vague. It doesn't really point specifically to what they're trying to do with this when it comes to the regulatory side of it. We need to have some very specific items and outcomes that this bill is trying to focus on when it comes to this particular part of it [individual users creating content on social media]. So how it's applied - that remains to be seen. But the potential for what it could be, that is what's extremely problematic."

Through much of last week, debate raged in the House of Commons over the bill and it's broad power-giving authority. Outside of the House of Commons there has been a large public outcry on what many perceived to be an overstepping of regulatory authority. Pundits and 'legal experts' across all media outlets in Canada have decried the bill.

While C-10 appeared set to become law, those who oppose the bill did score a minor victory this week. MPs in the commons voted on a motion that would see a new 'charter statement' drafted. Charter statements are usually issued by the Canadian Justice Minister, and they're meant to provide insight into the potential impact a new piece legislation could have on Canadian Rights. With the Ministry of Justice requiring time to produce the statement, the debate and vote of Bill C-10 will now be delayed.

With the delay, Mr. Patzer says there is still time for Canadians to voice their concerns over the bill.

"'I'm always looking to hear people's thoughts on any piece of legislation. But on one like this, because the NDP have signaled that they're open to supporting this bill as it is, if they could vote no - like we're planning to and like the Bloc are planning to - then we can defeat this bill. So people need to reach out to government members as well, but also to the NDP members that are looking to vote for this bill."

A full list of members of parliament can be found HERE. You can track the progress of Bill C-10 in the House of Commons HERE.