OTTAWA – Finding unanimity on issues among party leaders during a federal election campaign is a rarity, but all six on stage during the final French language debate on Thursday actually agreed multinational digital giants should be contributing more into the Canadian economy – and that Canadians’ digital rights need to be safeguarded.
When moderator and Radio-Canada anchor Patrice Roy asked Justin Trudeau whether his Liberal Party would commit to “giving back” some of the money collected from taxing web giants to the “artists who produce the content and who only receive the crumbs,” the prime minister responded that “we are going to do more than just investing that money in culture.”
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet quickly hopped into the conversation and said his party is in favour of imposing a 3% “levy” and “not a tax” on these companies, because they “exploit content that as not theirs.”
He said that would result in “hundreds of millions of dollars” for artists, 40% of which would be directed to the francophone sector. The 3% idea is something other countries in the world are exploring, too.
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer acknowledged that multinational digital companies “make a lot of money” from the Canadian economy, and said that his party would also tax them. Scheer, whose Tories are virtually tied in the polls with the Liberals, said a Conservative government would create a “new administration” for digital media.
However, the Conservative platform, released Friday afternoon, mentions no such thing.
(Ed note: The whole platform has rather few details when it comes to telecom, wireless and culture.)
Scheer’s former leadership rival, Maxime Bernier, who now leads the People’s Party of Canada, said Canada has an “unfair” system because “these big web giants should pay the HST like anyone else.” He added once the federal budget is balanced, a People’s Party government would reinvest revenues collected into the arts sector.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May would also return some of the tax revenue collected from digital companies to the cultural community, as would NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. “Yes, the internet giants need to be taxed,” he said, “and we have to reinvest in culture.”
Patricia Cloutier, the National Assembly correspondent for Le Soleil in Quebec City – one of the other journalists who posed questions to the leaders – asked them whether they would follow the lead of the United Kingdom and penalize companies over data breaches, which in Canada, she pointed out, has resulted in the theft of personal information involving millions of Canadians.
“Banks are responsible for protecting their customers’ privacy and when situations like this occur where there’s a breach of privacy, there have to be repercussions,” said Singh.
Trudeau referred to the Digital Charter his government created earlier this year. “We are working with Great Britain and France to make sure that Canadian can control their own data and information,” he said.
The Bloc’s Blanchet said his party would seek parliamentary support to strengthen digital rights, and require companies to report data breaches when they occur along with the number of such occurrences every year, and “cover any costs being incurred by customers.”
Bernier added he too wants to protect personal information. “There is no company above the law,” he said.
“It’s almost unanimous,” May underscored before Scheer weighed in. “The banks are negligent and we have to protect the rights of consumers.”
The Tory and official opposition leader brought unanimity to the discussion. “We will protect Canadian consumers to ensure the protection of their data,” he said, before breaking the collegiality at the podium.
Scheer said it was Trudeau’s government “that tried to give Statistics Canada permission to obtain unconsented [banking] information from Canadians” and “only backpedaled” when there was a public outcry.
Overall, though, the debate displayed an atypical harmony on issues involving digital media and data, according to Friends of Canadian Broadcasting executive director Daniel Bernhard. “They all committed to taxing companies like Google and Facebook fairly and forcing them into complying with Canadian laws and regulations to some extent,” he said in an interview.
“That’s a huge improvement over where we were just a couple of months ago where this was still a contentious issue, so this seems to indicate that we’re moving toward a consensus position in Canada and that’s an extremely positive thing.”
Bernhard said the biggest surprise in this area from the debate, which was held at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., came from Scheer who provided more clarity on taxing digital companies.
“I hadn’t heard something so unequivocal and clear from him,” said Bernhard, who still cautioned that the devil will be in the details.
“Between a statement and an impactful policy, there is a lot of room,” offered Bernhard. “Right now, we’re at the level of statements. We could see notional gestures, we could see ‘we intent to work towards’ positions, or we could see really ambitious action. That remains to be seen, but I’m happy the leaders were putting themselves on record as being supportive.”
“No one was attacked for promising to require these massive companies to pay Canadian taxes. That is a very positive development.”
It was vastly different in 2015 when Time magazine called the so-called Netflix tax the “big election issue’ during federal campaign that year.
“Something you might know about me,” a smiling Stephen Harper said in a memorable video that remains on his Twitter feed which made him look like he was actively advertising for Netflix, “I love movies and TV shows.”
“One of my all-time favourites is Breaking Bad. It’s even available on some online streamline services if you’ve never seen it,” declared Harper, who was seeking a fourth term as Canada’s 22nd prime minister.
“Some politicians want to tax digital-streaming services like Netflix and YouTube,” he warned. “Some have even called on us to introduce a Netflix tax. Justin Trudeau and [then-NDP leader] Thomas Mulcair have left the door wide open to doing just that.”
“I’m 100% against a Netflix tax; always have been, always will be,” Harper added. “Only our Conservative Party can be trusted to focus on the needs of Canadian consumers and to keep [their] taxes low.”
Only thing is that neither Trudeau nor Mulcair suggested such a tax in the first place, as Bernhard highlighted. “Harper used that as a bludgeon against Trudeau, which silenced him for years on the matter,” said the Friends spokesman, noting that even last year the incumbent Liberal prime minister bristled at imposing GST on Netflix.
“So it’s a huge change this year that all of the leaders felt they had to come out in favour of taxes.”
