Two top bureaucrats retiring at Canadian Heritage
By Denis Carmel
NO, BILL C-10 WON’T lead to the sale of Canadian broadcasters to foreign interests, Department of Canadian Heritage officials told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Monday morning.
The bill, as proposed, contemplates the removal of the portion of the Broadcasting Act which says companies in the system must be majority Canadian-owned and -controlled, which has raised opposition from some quarters. When asked Monday during the committee meeting into C-10, the bill which would amend the Act, by Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson if this means Canadian broadcasters could be sold off to foreign interests, both senior assistant deputy minister of cultural affairs, Jean-Stéphen Piché and Thomas Owen Ripley, director general, broadcasting, copyright and creative marketplace, said no.
Bill C-10, said Piché, walks a line where it is trying to bring foreign online broadcasters into the system, so it can’t also say they have to be Canadian-owned. “It’s a balance we’re seeking… to recognize a situation of fact – that they are operating here, and that also protects Canadian broadcasters in that framework.”
“The challenge we face is the current wording says the system shall be owned and controlled by Canadians, and the tension is obviously that’s just not true anymore,” added Ripley. “The whole impetus for C-10 is to bring streaming services… into and include them in the broadcasting system and the reality is many of those services are not Canadian-owned and controlled and so that is why we reformulated that policy objective to talk about having them all make an appropriate contribution as the foundation for the system moving forward.”
McPherson then asked point blank if Canadian broadcasters could then be sold to an American company.
“The answer to that is no,” said Ripley, “because right now there is a directive to the CRTC that provides restrictions on foreign ownership with respect to licenced entities. So, the reality is our over-the-air broadcasters, our cable and satellite companies, could not be put under foreign ownership and control, as long as that direction remains in place.” Plus, he added, the CRTC can not change that 1997 direction (which says non-Canadians can own up to 20% of a broadcaster directly and up to 33.33% of a holding company that owns a broadcaster), no matter what new regulations it comes up with if and when C-10 is passed.
Piché, who is retiring on April 14, 2021, outlined in his opening remarks that C-10 is one of the four initiatives currently under way at Canadian Heritage that will modernize our federal communications legislative framework for the online world. The other three are:
- Address online harm, such as hate speech, violent and extremist content, terrorist propaganda, child sexual exploitation and non-consensual distribution of sexually explicit images.
- Working with ISED to amend the Copyright Act.
- Ensuring the Canadian news services are fairly compensated for their use by online services.
Also, Piché isn’t the only one retiring soon. Cartt.ca has learned deputy minister Hélène Laurendeau announced last Thursday to Heritage personnel that she would retire on April 9.
During the second hour of Monday’s meeting, Heritage Minister Steve Guilbeault joined and during questioning, McPherson mentioned that with a potential election looming, C-10 may be the only legislation that could pass in this Parliament, meaning they may not have time to deal with the important issues of online harm and to make Facebook and others accountable for the hate shared on their platforms.
The minister retorted by saying Bill C-10 could not be about “everything under the sun.”
Earlier in the meeting, officials and the Minister were asked about the Canadian Government choosing to spend so much on advertising with digital giants they now blame for much wrongdoing, while local media is suffering. The Minister said government has already started to change the way they spend on ads and that we could see changes next year. Cartt.ca checked on the government’s report on advertising, which was issued on January 29 and it indicates the Covid-19 campaigns were made on TV and radio 72% of the time, in 2019-2020. Guilbeault may be advocating the rest of government advertising follow that trend.
Addendum: The Minister also noted, in French, the directive to the CRTC which limits the amount of foreign investment allowed in Canadian broadcasters. He reminded the committee another government could change that directive and also stated the current government will not. He said the CRTC itself does not have the power to alter this directive. “It is a government matter. Could another government, not ours of course, later decide to change things, because governments are always able to make their own decisions? Yes, but that’s not the case for the CRTC. The regulatory framework will remain in place,” he said, through the live interpretation.
The committee’s next meeting will be Friday, March 12, featuring witnesses who attempted to give evidence on February 19 but voting in the House ended the meeting. The chair of the Committee indicated at that time the clause-by-clause examination of the bill was scheduled then. Cartt.ca has now heard that on March 22, another meeting will be held to hear witnesses who had appeared on February 5th, but the discussion got sidetracked by Committee business. New witnesses, such as Bell, might also appear on that day, according to a source.
