OTTAWA – On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tabled bill C-100, An Act to implement the new trade agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
This legislation is intended to facilitate the necessary changes in other statutes which will then ensure the ratification of the USMCA. As readers may recall, the Agreement speaks directly to repealing the CRTC’s 2015 decision to ban the simultaneous substitution of TV ads during Super Bowl, as well as to end of the ban on American TV Shopping Channels.
So, Bill C-100 proposes changes to the Broadcasting Act that would only apply to the USMCA by changing Section 27 of the Act by allowing Cabinet to issue directions to the CRTC “requiring the Commission to implement paragraphs 1 and 4 of Annex 15-D of the Agreement and specifying the manner in which, and the date on or before which, those paragraphs are to be implemented,” the Bill reads.
Annex-15 in the USMCA reads: “Canada shall rescind Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2016-334 and Broadcasting Order CRTC 2016-335. With respect to simultaneous substitution of commercials during the retransmission in Canada of the program referenced in those measures, Canada may not accord the program treatment less favorable than the treatment accorded to other programs originating in the United States retransmitted in Canada.”
The legislation needs to be passes before the end of the session, in June, if the Trade Agreement is to be passed before our fall federal election.
Similar legislation may be more difficult to pass in the U.S.
