MONTREAL — “I’ve gotten such great press lately,” Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly joked to break the ice in a speech Friday to Montreal’s board of trade. But despite mounting pressure, especially in Quebec, to impose sales taxes on foreign over-the-top services like Netflix, Joly had no new announcements to make, sticking to repeating the promises made in the Creative Canada plan released in September.
“I hear you,” she told the crowd present, including board president Michel Leblanc, who said during his introduction that he expected Joly to explain the government’s position on this issue. She repeated several times that she’s listening to what people say about Netflix and will bring that back to her colleagues in the cabinet.
On Wednesday, a Quebecor-led coalition of Quebec artists, festivals, production companies, unions, funding agencies and executives at companies including Bell, Cogeco, V, Stingray, Télé-Québec and TV5, published an open letter calling on the government to level the fiscal playing field for broadcasters.
“We cannot allow foreign giants to avoid the taxes that all local businesses must charge,” the letter says. “This injustice must be corrected. It penalizes our business, our artists and our workers. We have a shared duty to protect Quebec and Canadian culture.”
But Joly had no new response to this criticism. Instead, she repeated an admission that Leblanc made in his introduction, that the issue of taxes isn’t Joly’s department. (Those decisions are made by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Finance Minister – and Prime Minister Trudeau has said repeatedly no taxes will be applied to Netflix.)
Leblanc told journalists later that his membership has been unanimous on this issue, and he expects discussions in the federal cabinet. He said his membership will not only push Finance Minister Bill Morneau to change the law, but if he doesn’t, they expect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step in.
Joly evaded several questions about the Netflix tax issue, telling journalists that she presented “a cultural policy and not a fiscal policy” and that tax issues fall under Morneau. She gave non-answers to direct questions about her personal opinion on the issue or whether she had discussed it with Morneau.
She also repeated that “our government’s position is clear” without clarifying what that position is.
“They said, ‘tell her we find her courageous.’” – Michel Leblanc, Montreal Board of Trade
Meanwhile, a recent deal between Postmedia and Torstar to swap community papers in Ontario and free dailies in four cities, leading to dozens of them being closed, has reinforced the precarious state of print media. But here too Joly had nothing specific to announce, though she did acknowledge the gravity of the problem and the need for the government to step in, and seemed on the verge of tears as she expressed a bit of patriotism.
“I’m a Quebecer, I understand the importance of the state for protecting our culture,” she said. She acknowledged a wave of change hitting the news media industry. “I also know that we need to develop the tools to face this wave,” she said. “it’s an immense challenge, I’m ready to face it, and it will be a pleasure to face it with you.”
Two years into her mandate, Joly can (and did) point to several successes: A $500-million Canadian television production commitment from Netflix, new money for the CBC and Canada Media Fund, and a renewed focus on exporting Canadian content abroad (a cultural trade mission to China is planned for next spring). But many of the projects she spoke about in the Creative Canada plan remain vague or incomplete. The Copyright Act, Telecommunications Act, Broadcasting Act and CBC mandate haven’t yet been modernized, a new CBC president hasn’t been announced, and eligibility criteria for the Canada Music Fund and Canada Book Fund might not be updated until after the next federal election.
And a promise to “work with digital players to support news innovation and local journalism” comes as cold comfort to the hundreds of journalists across the country losing their jobs every year.
Though the crowd was warm, Leblanc admitted that giving a speech amid this public criticism wasn’t easy, and he had spoken with many board members about it.
“They said, ‘tell her we find her courageous.’”
Photo by Steve Faguy
