Ministers are rushing to change the Criminal Code by inserting the huge limitation on speech into the budget. Canada will join a string of European countries, including Germany, Greece, France, Belgium and the Czech Republic, which have already prohibited Holocaust denial. A similar bill proposes up to two years in prison. The budget set aside more than $70 million for initiatives benefiting Canada's Jewish community.

Canada already had a similar law and tried to prosecute Ernst Zundel, author of Did Six Million Really Die?, twice for publishing 'false news' in violation of Section 181 of Canada's Criminal Code. After numerous legal battles, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country's laws against spreading false news as a violation of free speech.

The federal government is set to make it a criminal offence to make a statement denying the Holocaust took place or condoning or downplaying the killing of Jews by the Nazi regime, except in a private conversation.

Ministers plan to use a bill enacting the budget to swiftly change the Criminal Code, budget documents show.

The move to outlaw Holocaust denial comes as MPs and anti-hate groups warn about the rise of white-supremacism and antisemitism in Canada.

"Jewish Canadians comprise one per cent of the Canadian population yet are the target of 62 per cent of all religiously motivated hate crimes," said Richard Marceau, vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. "We live in a time of rising antisemitism."