Bill C-11

Online Streaming Act

An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts

This enactment amends the Broadcasting Act to, among other things,
(a) add online undertakings — undertakings for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet — as a distinct class of broadcasting undertakings;
(b) specify that the Act does not apply in respect of programs uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service, unless the programs are prescribed by regulation;
(c) update the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in section 3 of the Act by, among other things, providing that the Canadian broadcasting system should
(i) serve the needs and interests of all Canadians, including Canadians from Black or other racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and ages, and
(ii) provide opportunities to Indigenous persons, programming that reflects Indigenous cultures and that is in Indigenous languages, and programming that is accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities;
(d) enhance the vitality of official language minority communities in Canada and foster the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society, including by supporting the production and broadcasting of original programs in both languages;
(e) specify that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the “Commission”) must regulate and supervise the Canadian broadcasting system in a manner that
(i) takes into account the different characteristics of English, French and Indigenous language broadcasting and the different conditions under which broadcasting undertakings that provide English, French or Indigenous language programming operate,
(ii) takes into account, among other things, the nature and diversity of the services provided by broadcasting undertakings,
(iii) ensures that any broadcasting undertaking that cannot make maximum or predominant use of Canadian creative and other human resources in the creation, production and presentation of programming contributes to those Canadian resources in an equitable manner,
(iv) promotes innovation and is readily adaptable toscientific and technological change,
(v) facilitates the provision to Canadians of Canadian programs in both official languages, including those created and produced by official language minority communities in Canada, as well as Canadian programs in Indigenous languages,
(vi) facilitates the provision of programs that are accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities,
(vii) facilitates the provision to Canadians of programs created and produced by members of Black or other racialized communities,
(viii) protects the privacy of individuals who aremembers of the audience of programs broadcast, and
(ix) takes into account the variety of broadcasting undertakings to which the Act applies and avoids imposing obligations on any class of broadcasting undertakings if that imposition will not contribute in a material manner to the implementation of the broadcasting policy;
(f) amend the procedure relating to the issuance by the Governor in Council of policy directions to the Commission;
(g) replace the Commission’s power to impose conditions on a licence with a power to make orders imposing conditions on the carrying on of broadcasting undertakings;
(h) provide the Commission with the power to require that persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings make expenditures to support the Canadian broadcasting system;
(i) authorize the Commission to provide information to the Minister responsible for that Act, the Chief Statistician of Canada and the Commissioner of Competition, and set out in that Act a process by which a person who submits certain types of information to the Commission may designate the information as confidential;
(j) amend the procedure by which the Governor in Council may, under section 28 of that Act, set aside a decision of the Commission to issue, amend or renew a licence or refer such a decision back to the Commission for reconsideration and hearing;
(k) specify that a person shall not carry on a broadcasting undertaking, other than an online undertaking, unless they do so in accordance with a licence or they are exempt from the requirement to hold a licence;
(l) harmonize the punishments for offences under Part II of that Act and clarify that a due diligence defence applies to the existing offences set out in that Act; and
(m) allow for the imposition of administrative monetary penalties for violations of certain provisions of that Act or of the Accessible Canada Act .
The enactment also makes related and consequential amendments to other Acts.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

I'm going to pick up where I left off, in reference to what you said about Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 in your statement and how some people might have been excluded for a variety of reasons.

We've just heard that it took two years for the U.K. to do the harms bill. You suggested that we had our study backwards here on Bill C-18 and Bill C-11. What would you like us to see as the mistakes that were made with Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 so that we have legislation that might not be what it should and we excluded people from the process? My idea is that you talk to everybody and make sure everybody's heard if you want to get something right. On the harms bill, what would you suggest?

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

When you reference Bill C-11 and Bill C-18, who should set the standards there. Who should set these standards? Where do you think we should go?

[Dr. Michael Geist]

With your permission, I'd like to expand that not just to C-18 but to C-11 as well.

One of the real concerns with the legislative approach that this committee and that the legislation has taken on both the streaming act and on the news act has been to have significant negative implications for access to foreign content for diaspora communities. One of the real fears of what we're seeing play out at the CRTC is the likelihood that the increased cost of regulation and registration—but even more than registration, the actual costs of regulation—could well lead many foreign streaming services to simply block the Canadian market, because it doesn't become economical anymore. It's particularly those communities that may be most directly affected. The same is true on the news side.

Yes, this was a likely outcome. Again, I'm going to come back to my opening remarks to emphasize that, if you weren't listening to these players, if you decided all you needed to do was by and large listen to News Media Canada and a few other cheerleaders, then you'd miss that large story.

[Dr. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning. My name is Michael Geist. I'm a law professor at the University of Ottawa, where I hold the Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law. I'm here in a personal capacity, representing only my own views.

I've appeared before this committee many times, yet it seems necessary to expand on my standard opening by stating that I have never been compensated or otherwise received a benefit from any tech company in conjunction with any of my appearances, submissions or statements on any legislative or regulatory issue. I don't think I should have to say this, but given the tendency of some to defame critics of Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 as shills, I should be absolutely clear that my views are not for sale.

Further, I should also be clear that criticism of Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 was not opposition to tech regulation. There are real harms, and we need regulation. I recently appeared before the INDU committee, calling for the strengthening of Bill C-27 on privacy and AI regulation. I have to say that I have spent much of my time, in the aftermath of the events of October 7, focused on the alarming rise of anti-Semitism and the urgent need for action both off-line and online, which could include the much-delayed online harms bill.

Since this study is about tech efforts to influence policy, I'll focus on that.

There have been important studies and reports that chronicle tech sector efforts to influence policy. For example, the Tech Transparency Project reported on Google-supported research. It identified many papers and work by academics with links to, or financial backing from, that company. However, the investigations identified virtually no Canadian examples. In fact, a search for any articles or reports from the project, since its inception across multiple tech companies, reveals very little involving Canada.

If we consider efforts to influence Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 through lobbyist meetings—we just heard about lobbying—one organization leads the way. It isn't Meta, which had relatively few meetings on these bills—in fact, fewer than CAB, ACTRA, CDCE or CMPA. It isn't Google, which ranked second for the meetings. Rather, the organization with the most registered lobbyist meetings on these bills is News Media Canada.

It's important to state that, if this hearing is about retribution for the blocking of news links in response to Bill C-18, I think that's misguided. Companies and many experts warned repeatedly that the legislation was deeply flawed. Now that news-link blocking has gone on for months on Facebook and Instagram without any apparent interest from that company in regulatory reform, I think that's pretty clear evidence that this is a consequence of the legislation and not a tactic to influence it. It was not a bluff, as many kept insisting. Indeed, I would argue that, frankly, both companies were pretty consistent from day one in their statements about the legislation.

In many respects—we just heard about threats to remove or stop investment—it's no different from Bell's recent announcement, in which it threatened to cut capital investment by a billion dollars in response to a CRTC wholesale Internet access ruling, or Stellantis putting its investment on hold earlier this year in Canada with the announcement of the Volkswagen deal. Simply put, legislation and regulation have consequences.

If this is actually about addressing concerns around regulatory or legislative influence, however, the real issue isn't tactics. It's regulatory capture. On that front, there is cause for concern in Canada. With Bill C-11, there was ample evidence of regulatory capture, as a handful of legacy culture groups dominated meetings with officials and time with this committee. The voices of Canadian digital creators were often dismissed or sidelined, including those from indigenous and BIPOC communities, some of whom reported feeling disrespected or intimidated by department or ministry officials.

The situation was even more pronounced with Bill C-18. Members of this committee indicated they were ready to move to clause-by-clause review without even hearing from Meta. During that review, someone stated that online news organizations were not even news. This form of regulatory capture was particularly damaging. Online news outlets were sounding the alarm over the risks of the bill and took the biggest hit with news-link blocking. They too were ignored. Some have now stopped hiring or been forced to suspend operations, yet News Media Canada somehow managed, in the span of five years, to obtain a $600-million bailout, the swift enactment of Bill C-18 and now an expansion of the labour journalism tax credit, in which their demands were met down to the last penny. Now that is influence.

Cultural policy is the bedrock of this committee, but culture isn't static. It's essential this committee and the department ensure they avoid regulatory capture and provide a forum for all voices. Failure to do so makes for bad policy and raises the risk of intimidation, in which—inadvertent or not—it may be the government, or this committee, that does some of the intimidating.

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your questions.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Quickly, you're described as being independent and at arm's length. I've been on Bill C-10, Bill C-11 and Bill C-18, so we've heard ministers say that a number of times.

I have the ATIP question. You said you did not send information to the minister. You said that a few minutes ago. Be careful, because I have information here. They sent it to you, then, because I know what they sent. I know it went back and forth.

When it talks about “media lines”, I know what those are. They sent them to you, then. You didn't send it to them, you said, so they sent them to you.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Maybe, in that case.

Ms. Eatrides, last summer, I was very concerned about the fact that the position of regional commissioner for Quebec at the CRTC had been vacant for so long. Recently, on November 14, Stéphanie Paquette was appointed to the position of regional commissioner for Quebec, and that was excellent news. That is perfect.

The fact remains that this position had been vacant for several months, at a time when, in my view, it was absolutely essential. The study of Bill C‑11 was beginning and regulations were being implemented that have a major impact on Quebec culture and the broadcasting sector. The fact that this position was vacant was of much concern to the sector and also to me.

I would like to know the explanation for it taking so long to find the right person and appoint her, when there were several good candidates in the running.

[Vicky Eatrides]

I would come back to the CRTC's role. What I would say is that, under Bill C-11 and under the hearings that we're holding right now, we are looking at whether, if we do go the base contribution route for online streaming services, some of that money should go to news funds.

[Scott Shortliffe]

We obviously and clearly have a role in news and broadcasting, which we take very seriously, but it's important to note the difference between Bill C-11 and Bill C-18. Bill C-11 gives us large policy questions. There are a number of policy objectives, and we have to figure out how to achieve them. With Bill C-18, we're basically being asked to administer a policy that the government is setting in regulation, and that will be in regulation by the end of the year. Our role is really to facilitate the commercial negotiations that are based on what we've been given.

For better or for worse, we're not being asked to regulate in the newspaper environment. Newspaper policy is something that very much sits with the Department of Canadian Heritage. Having said that, once we have that mandate we will take very seriously our role to help facilitate those commercial arrangements.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I also thank the three witnesses for being here.

This meeting was much anticipated. It is our pleasure to have you with us and listen to your answers. We have a lot of concerns, particularly as regards the revision of the Broadcasting Act, Bill C‑11, on which we worked very hard and for which we overcame a number of challenges.

Ms. Eatrides, in your opening statement, you said you had received 600 briefs, requests and submissions from various groups everywhere in Canada. You also said that you had heard from roughly 20 intervenors so far. That concerns me, because this is really a very daunting task.

Do you think you will be able to complete this mission in time to be able to quickly breathe life into culture, the broadcasting sector and our producers? Do you think the job is too big for the resources you have?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

Ms. Eatrides, thank you for being with us here today. We've been looking forward to having you at the table. It's taken a little while to finally coordinate this, and we appreciate your time.

During the debate on Bill C-11, as you're aware, there was great conversation with regard to user-generated content and whether or not it was scoped in. The government tried to insist that it wasn't. What I note, however, is that, in its directive to the CRTC, it has had to make that explicit. It has made the distinction, or it has distinguished for you, that user-generated content is not to be regulated.

If that's already not in the legislation, then why would that distinction need to be made in your directive?

Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in the Transportation System Act

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is always a privilege to rise on behalf of the residents of Kelowna—Lake Country.

Today, I rise to speak to the government's legislation, Bill C-52, enhancing transparency and accountability in the transportation system act. The bill was initially introduced by the former minister of transport. Bill C-52 has far-reaching implications for Canada's transportation system, and as the official opposition, it is our duty to ensure it will truly meet the serious and ongoing concerns many Canadians have within the transportation sector.

The bill proposes to set publicly reported service standards for private sector companies and government agencies responsible for air travel at Canada's airports almost exclusively through regulations, which would be created by the minister and the cabinet.

Furthermore, it proposes to require airport authorities to formalize noise consultation processes and environmental standards, and to publish information on their directors and senior management. Finally, Bill C-52 aims to amend the Canada Marine Act regarding the setting of fees by Canadian port authorities.

First and foremost, the timing of the bill's introduction raises concerns. Bill C-52 was presented on June 20, just one day before the House recessed for the summer. That raises questions about the government's motivations and intentions. It is essential to consider whether the timing was chosen to deflect attention from previous travel-related crises and to create an impression of swift action.

Between the summers of 2022 and 2023, Canadian travellers faced a disastrous travel season with numerous flight cancellations and unacceptable delays. Previous to that was the disastrous mismanagement of passports that affected travellers, but that is a whole other issue. In particular, the Christmas travel season last year brought further chaos and frustration in airports. Those events highlighted the need for significant improvements in our transportation system.

However, the Liberals are focusing on announcements and consultations rather than delivering tangible results for Canadian travellers. What is their solution? It is to empower themselves further.

One of the most pressing issues within our transportation system is the backlog of complaints with the Canadian Transportation Agency, the CTA. This backlog has grown by 3,000 complaints per month and has resulted in a staggering 60,000 complaints now waiting to be adjudicated.

That backlog represents thousands of Canadian passengers who had their travel experiences disrupted or delayed, or had some form of service situation, and all those people are awaiting resolutions. Those passengers have been unable to resolve their compensation claims with airlines, and they have now been asked to wait over 18 months to have their complaints considered by the Canadian Transportation Agency.

This adds insult to injury and prolongs what could be serious problems. People are out-of-pocket, and airlines are not being held accountable for mismanagement and poor service.

Most recently, we heard damning reports of Air Canada's and WestJet's treatment of passengers with disabilities. For Air Canada, in one case in May, two employees, instead of being trained on the proper equipment, attempted to physically lift a passenger but ended up dropping him. In another report, a woman's ventilator was disconnected and a lift fell on her head. A man was forced to physically drag himself off a flight in Vancouver. Air Canada admitted it had violated federal accessibility regulations.

We heard that those passengers got notice, forgiveness and, hopefully, amends to which they are entitled, and Air Canada said it would be looking to ensure proper compliance. I am looking forward to ensuring that Air Canada's CEO will be appearing before the human resources committee I serve on, as we have called for him to testify and to explain to Canadians exactly how this airline intends to comply.

The latest example was from WestJet where a paralympian was forced to lift herself up the stairs to the plane. It was reported that she commented that she was frustrated and humiliated, and there was a ramp within 50 metres.

All those situations are disturbing, disappointing and unacceptable for persons with disabilities to have gone through. Unfortunately, Bill C-52, which we are debating here today, does not provide solutions to eliminate the complaints backlog or set specific service standards within accountability mechanisms.

Federally regulated entities involved in air travel must also be held accountable for delays or cancellations. They include airlines, airports, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, Nav Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency. However, this legislation falls short of those expectations.

While the bill addresses some aspects of accountability and transparency, it fails to hold all relevant entities responsible for ensuring smooth and reliable air travel. A comprehensive approach to accountability should encompass all stakeholders involved in the travel experience. One of the significant concerns with Bill C-52 is the concentration of power in the hands of the minister and the cabinet to develop regulations in the future.

While regulatory flexibility can be useful, this bill does not include concrete improvements in legislation. We see this often with the Liberal government, where so much is left to regulation, which leads to uncertainty and lack of transparency. We saw this with the Internet censorship bill, Bill C-11, and with the disability benefits bill. Instead, this legislation relies on promises of future regulations, which raise concerns about vagueness and the potential for arbitrary decision-making. It is not even a band-aid. It is an IOU for a band-aid.

In a matter as critical as transportation where there is essential service provided, and the comfort and convenience of the Canadian people are at stake, it is crucial that regulations are well defined and not left to the discretion of the government and the minister of the day. The lack of this clear direction with specific remedies in this bill to address the long-standing problems in our transportation system is a significant shortcoming. While the bill aspires to enhance transparency and accountability in the transportation system, it fails to deliver. It fails to provide the concrete solutions to the issues that have been plaguing the system for years. As for the results and who will be held accountable, there are no answers in this legislation.

We need legislation that not only identifies problems but also provides tangible solutions. It is our responsibility as legislators to ensure that any legislation passed is effective and beneficial to the Canadian people. Bill C-52, as it stands, is lacking.

News Media Industry

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there are some good ideas in Bills C‑11 and C‑18, but, for now, they are not working. They are not doing anything. That is why, pending the conclusion of negotiations with the web giants in the case of Bill C‑18, an emergency fund for the media is required. That is reasonable. It is essential to maintain the diversity of information in the short term. In the long term, much more will be needed.

Now, we can send a clear message to our media that we are taking action to save them. Will the minister quickly set up an emergency fund before we find out that other newsrooms are closing in our media?

[Carole Piovesan]

Okay.

I participated in the national consultations on data and digital literacy, I think it was, in 2018. I participated as an innovator—as one of the innovation leads.

I did not participate in the drafting of the digital charter, nor in the white paper to reform PIPEDA that came out at that time. I have not participated in the drafting of any of these laws, neither Bill C-11 nor Bill C-27.

[Scott Lamb, Partner, Clark Wilson LLP, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for having me here today on the important matter of reform of our privacy legislation and Bill C-27.

I'm a partner at the law firm of Clark Wilson in Vancouver, and I'm called to the bar in Ontario and British Columbia. I've been practising in the area of privacy law since approximately 2000. I've advised both private sector organizations in a variety of businesses and public bodies such as universities in the public sector. I've also acted as legal counsel before the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia in investigations, inquiries and judicial review.

With the limited amount of time we have, I'll be confining my remarks to the proposed consumer privacy protection act, specifically the legitimate interest exception, anonymization and de-identification, and the separate review tribunal. Hopefully, I'll have a bit of time to get into the artificial intelligence and data act, AIDA, with respect to high-impact systems.

I will of course be happy to discuss other areas of Bill C-27 and questions you may have. Also, subsequent to my presentation, I'll provide a detailed brief on the areas discussed today.

Starting with the proposed consumer privacy protection act and the legitimate interest exception, it's important to point out that arguably the leading privacy law jurisdiction, the EU with its GDPR, provides for a stand-alone right of an organization to collect, use and disclose personal information if it has a legitimate interest. Accordingly, if Canada is to have an exception to consent based on an organization's legitimate interest, it's important to look, in detail, at how that will operate and the implications of that exception.

First, to reiterate, the draft provisions in proposed subsection 18(3) are an exception to the consent requirements and not a stand-alone right for an organization as set out in the GDPR.

What's the significance of this? A stand-alone right generally is not as restrictively interpreted by the courts as an exception to an obligation from a purely statutory interpretation point of view. In short, the legitimate interest exception is very likely to be a narrower provision in scope than the GDPR's legitimate interest provisions.

A stand-alone right may be a means to circumvent or generally undercut the consent structure of our privacy legislation, which again is at the heart of our legislation and is a part of the inculcated privacy protection culture in Canada. Maintaining the legitimate interest provisions as an exception to the consent structure, on balance, is preferable to a stand-alone right.

Second, the exception is only for the collection or use of personal information and is not permitted for the disclosure of personal information to third parties. The prohibition on application of the exception to disclosure of personal information that is in the legitimate interest of an organization, in my view, doesn't make sense. While I'm in favour of the first instance of an exception over a stand-alone right, I think you have to expand this to cover disclosure as well.

The provisions in proposed subsection 18(3) expressly state that the legitimate interest of an organization “outweighs any potential adverse effect”. This is effectively a high standard of protection. The usefulness of this exception, if limited to only collection and use, is significant for organizations. For example, a business may have a legitimate interest in collection and use of personal information to measure and improve the use of its services or to develop a product. However, proposed subsection 18(3) prevents that organization from actually disclosing that personal information to a business partner or third party vendor to give effect to its legitimate purpose.

Finally, the point is that other jurisdictions allow for a legitimate interest of an organization to apply to disclosure of personal information as well as to collection and use. Specifically, again, that is not only the EU GDPR but also the Singapore law. I note that when you look at those pieces of legislation standing side by side, Singapore also has it as an exception. Singapore also has some case law that has moved forward.

I think it would give a lot of comfort to this committee if it were to examine some of the case law from Singapore, as well as some of the more current case law from the GDPR regime. It does give some sense of what this means as a legitimate interest, which I can appreciate at first instance may seem rather vague and could be seen as a giant loophole. However, my submission is that's not the case.

The next item I'd like to talk about is anonymization and de-identification. Clarity on this issue has been sought for some time, and it's reassuring that the change from Bill C-11 to Bill C-27 introduced this idea, a concept of anonymization, as separate from de-identification. However, technologically and practically speaking, you're never going to reach the standard set out in the definition of anonymization, so why put it in the act in the first place? There's been some commentary on this, and I am generally in support of the recommendation that you should insert into that definition the reasonableness to expect in the circumstances that an individual can be identified after the de-identification process. Then the data is not anonymized and is still caught by the legislation and the specific requirements for the use and disclosure of such data.

In terms of use and disclosure, I also note that proposed section 21 confines the use to internal use by the organization. The utility of this provision could be remarkably limited by this, again compared to what our trading partners have, because in modern research and development you have the idea of data pooling and extensive partnerships in the use of data. If it's strictly for internal purposes, we could lose this important tool in a modern technological economy that relies on this. Therefore, I recommend that it be deleted as well.

Also, proposed section 39 would limit the disclosure of de-identified personal information to, effectively, public sector organizations—this is very restrictive—and consideration should be given to disclosing to private sector organizations that are really fundamentally important to our modern economy and research and development.

In terms of the separate review tribunal, I know that the Privacy Commissioner has been hostile to this and I recognize that the Privacy Commissioner performs an invaluable role in investigating and pursuing compliance with our privacy legislation. However, given the enormous administrative monetary penalties that may be awarded against organizations—the higher of 3% of gross annual revenue or $10 million—for breaches, clear appeal rights to an expert tribunal and review of penalties are required to ensure due process and natural justice standards and, frankly, to develop the law in this area.

It is also noteworthy that judicial oversight of the decision of the tribunal would be according to the Supreme Court of Canada's test in Vavilov, which is limited to a review on the reasonableness standard, which is a very deferential and limited review. It's been suggested that you try to limit these things from going on forever and ever. With judicial review, they would be limited. I know there was one suggestion that the ability to seek judicial review should jump right from the tribunal to the Federal Court of Appeal. I think that's fine if you want to expedite this and meet that concern. I think that's probably right, but I do like the structure of a separate review tribunal.

Finally, on artificial intelligence and the high-impact systems, I think the focus of that, in terms of identifying the concept of high-impact systems, is sound in structure and potentially generally aligned with our trade partners in the EU. However, the concept cannot be left to further development and definition in regulations. This concept needs extensive consultation and parliamentary review.

It is recommended that the government produce a functional analysis of a high-impact system from qualitative and quantitative impact, risk assessment, transparency and safeguards perspectives.

It's further recommended that distinctions be made between artificial intelligence research and development for research purposes only and artificial intelligence that is implemented into the public domain for commercial or other purposes. What I would not want to see come out of our AIDA legislation is that we have some sort of brake on research in artificial intelligence.

We are vulnerable and our allies are vulnerable to other international actors that are at the forefront of research in artificial intelligence. We should not have anything in our legislation to break that. However, we should protect the public when artificial intelligence products are rolled out to the public domain, and ensure that we are protected. I think that's a distinction that is missing in the discussion, and it's very important that we advance that.

Those are my submissions.

Thank you.

Canadian Heritage

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, 547 people working at TVA lost their jobs on Thursday, the darkest day in the history of Quebec television.

The federal government has to realize that Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 will not be enough. The government has to launch a $50‑million emergency fund for news media. It has to hold a summit next spring at the latest with all industry stakeholders to find long-term solutions to ensure the survival of our media outlets. Their future is at stake, and the time to act is now.

Will the minister create an emergency fund and hold a summit?