OTTAWA – The federal government today introduced what it is calling the Online Streaming Act, or Bill C-11, which, while cutting it close, fulfills its promise to reintroduce legislation to amend the Broadcasting Act within its first 100 days.
Bill C-11 is very similar to Bill C-10, which died when the Liberals called an election last August. The main aims are still centred around including online streamers in the act by adding “online undertakings” to its scope, creating an equitable system and providing the CRTC with more powers and flexibility.
The proposed amendments are “about updating our system to reflect today’s digital reality,” Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (pictured in a photo borrowed from his Instagram) said during a press conference today.
The main difference between Bill C-10 and Bill C-11 is with regards to the contentious section 4.1, which was included in C-10 and later taken out but has now been put back in C-11, albeit with minor adjustments that seek to clarify what types of content will be exempt from regulation.
“So let me be extremely clear, no users, no online creators will be regulated, no digital-first creators, no influencers, no cat videos – only the companies themselves will have new responsibilities.” – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez
“It’s true we did try to get a similar bill passed last year, so what’s new? We took stock from the work done by the last department, we listened especially to the concerns around social media, and we fixed it,” said Rodriguez.
“When it comes to social media, we made it very clear in the Online Streaming Act that this does not apply to what individual Canadians and creators post online,” he said. “So let me be extremely clear, no users, no online creators will be regulated, no digital-first creators, no influencers, no cat videos – only the companies themselves will have new responsibilities.”
Section 4.1(1) in Bill C-11 specifically says: “This Act does not apply in respect of a program that is uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service for transmission over the Internet and reception by other users of the service.”
The bill goes on to say, however, that the act will apply to a program described in section 4.1(1) in certain circumstances including if it “is uploaded to the social media service by the provider of the service or the provider’s affiliate, or by the agent or mandatary of either of them.”
In other instances, the CRTC is now being directed to consider “the extent to which a program, uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service, directly or indirectly generates revenues,” as well as whether the program has also been broadcast by a broadcasting undertaking and whether the “program has been assigned a unique identifier under an international standards system.”
Bill C-11 also aims to update Canada’s broadcasting policy to better reflect the country’s diversity.
A proposed amendment to 3(1)(d)(iii) of the act specifies the Canadian broadcasting system should “serve the needs and interests of all Canadians, including Canadians from racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and ages,” which is updated from the current act that is much more limited in scope.
Canadians and Canadian content are at the core of the proposed legislation, however, what exactly will qualify as Canadian content is still unclear. Rodriguez did indicate, however, that the CRTC will be asked to look at and modernize the definition of Canadian content.
Bill C-11 also seeks to modernize oversight and enforcement, as Bill C-10 did, in part by introducing administrative monetary penalties, which in the case of individuals can amount to up to $25,000 for first violations and up to $50,000 for subsequent ones, and for other cases up to $10 million for first violations and up to $15 million for subsequent ones.
Again, these administrative monetary penalties, like many other things included in Bill C-11, have not changed from Bill C-10, which suggests the new legislation is unlikely to have many supporters in the Conservative Party, which did not want the bill reintroduced.
Back on Jan. 24, John Nater, the Conservative shadow minister for Canadian Heritage and MP for Perth-Wellington, wrote to Rodriguez “calling on the Liberal government to halt their plans to reintroduce Bill C-10,” according to a Conservative Party press release.
“Canadians, parliamentarians, and experts raised serious concerns over Bill C-10 that were never fully, or properly addressed by the Liberal government. Regardless, with these major concerns and questions still left unanswered, the Trudeau Liberal government passed this flawed legislation,” the release says.
“We are urging you to listen to Canadians, listen to experts, and listen to the evidence-based testimony and comments that have been made with regards to your government’s Bill C-10,” Nater said to Rodriguez in the letter, which takes aim at the “disturbing direction” the legislation took “by allowing the government sweeping powers over Canadians on the internet.”
Nater’s letter argued Bill C-10 “is so deeply flawed and controversial that it would not be in the interests of Canadians to reintroduce it.”
“It is vital that this legislation establish a fair and equitable framework in which regulatory obligations are rebalanced for all players in the Canadian broadcasting space.” – Kevin Desjardins, president of the CAB
Bill C-11 does have supporters though, including the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ), and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), among others.
“The Online Streaming Act will reinforce Canadian cultural sovereignty, requiring that foreign tech giants play by the same rules as Canadian companies,” said CMPA president and CEO, Reynolds Mastin, in a press release.
“The people who work in Canadian film and television production were extremely pleased that during the last federal election campaign, all major federal parties endorsed modernizing the Broadcasting Act to include streaming services. We encourage MPs to work collaboratively across party lines to pass this important legislation.”
ADISQ president Philippe Archambault in an English translation of a French press release, said the organization has “great hopes for this new bill, the adoption of which is essential for local creators and producers and the vitality of Francophone music.”
“As the Liberal government promised, the process of modernizing the broadcasting law has resumed and that is good news,” added ADISQ director general, Eve Paré, in the English translation of the release. “We will now ensure that it meets the expectations and needs of the music community, in particular by maintaining a strong legislative framework, which makes all music distribution services contribute to our ecosystem, whether traditional or online.”
Kevin Desjardins, president of the CAB, said in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca: “The Canadian Association of Broadcasters welcomes the introduction of Bill C-11 as a critical step towards recognizing and addressing the massive impact of unregulated foreign players in our broadcasting system.
“A decade of exemptions from regulatory oversight has given an unfair advantage to foreign streaming services, allowing them to capitalize on the Canadian market while avoiding any of the obligations imposed on our domestic broadcasting sector,” he said.
“It is vital that this legislation establish a fair and equitable framework in which regulatory obligations are rebalanced for all players in the Canadian broadcasting space.”
