Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is hitting back at Meta, which owns Facebook, after the company did not rule out banning Canadians from viewing and sharing news on the social network.

The Liberal government introduced a bill earlier this month that would force digital giants to compensate news outlets for reusing their work.

Canada鈥檚 bill to support the news industry is modelled on a law in Australia, where Facebook introduced a temporary ban on viewing and sharing news on its site last year in protest of the draft legislation.

An executive from Meta Canada did not rule out a similar response here when pressed on the issue Tuesday at a parliamentary committee.

Rodriguez said, though Facebook could do it, he did not expect that would be popular with Canadians.

鈥淭hey made the same threat in Australia and at the end of the day they stayed,鈥� Rodriguez told reporters Wednesday ahead of the Liberal caucus meeting.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 well received by the Australian people and I don鈥檛 think it would be well received by the Canadian people.鈥�

Rodriguez added in French that the 鈥渢hreat is not making me work faster.鈥�

亚洲天堂 Media Canada, which represents the country鈥檚 news industry, said: 鈥淭hose tactics didn鈥檛 work in Australia and they won鈥檛 work in Canada.

Meta Canada鈥檚 Rachel Curran was asked by a Conservative MP at the Commons public safety committee on Tuesday whether a ban like the one Facebook introduced in Australia is off the table in Canada.

鈥淲e are still looking at all of the options based on our evaluation of the legislation,鈥� Curran replied.

Curran also told the committee the company was 鈥渘ot consulted鈥� on the contents of the bill.

Rodriguez said this was not the case.

鈥淭hey lied,鈥� he told reporters.

鈥淔acebook yesterday in committee said they had not been consulted, which is not true,鈥� he said.

He said he had met Meta personally on Feb. 10 and that his staff spoke with the company regularly.

He said Meta had not seen the bill before it was tabled in the House of Commons, which is in line with parliamentary procedures, but they were consulted along with other platforms.

鈥淔or us, it is a simple principle. The door is open. We are ready to discuss,鈥� he said.

On Tuesday, Curran told the committee the tech giant was unaware of the 鈥渟cope鈥� of the legislation until it was tabled and that it had 鈥渟ome pretty serious concerns.鈥�

Curran said on Wednesday Meta had 鈥渁ccepted a phone call鈥� from Rodriguez鈥檚 office shortly before the bill was tabled, but was not consulted on the scope or substance of the bill.

鈥淢eta stands for evidence-based policy developed in response to how the internet actually works,鈥� Curran said in a statement. 鈥淲e look forward to engaging with the government, Parliament and Canadians once we have completed a detailed review of the proposed legislation to more fully understand what the bill entails.鈥�

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the NDP would support the Liberal government鈥檚 online news bill to 鈥渕ake sure web giants pay their fair share鈥� for reusing news.

鈥淔acebook will raise concerns because they don鈥檛 want to pay their fair share,鈥� he said.

鈥� Marie Woolf, The Canadian Press