Evidence of meeting #28 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was book.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
You're asking me to speculate about the government's political future. That's the issue that arises for the government following the consultations.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I'm not asking you to tell me what it will do or wants to do or what it's tempted to do. Under the current act, if we open the door to the purchase of telecommunications companies, will that have an impact on broadcasting, based on what's there, not based on what the government wants to do? It will indeed do what it wants.
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
To ask the question whether the government will allow ownership by foreign businesses is to speculate about the future, something we can't do. What I can tell you today is that the provision under the Broadcasting Act is clear on the fact that ownership of broadcasting undertakings must be—
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
So I can't ask you any hypothetical questions? I exclude any question that doesn't concern the present? Is that it?
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
That's not what I'm trying to tell you. It's that you're asking me to step out of my role as an official who does not take part in a political debate.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I'm not at all dragging you into a political debate; I want to try to understand. In my opinion, if I observe what is currently going on, the two sectors are so interrelated that we cannot differentiate them from one another. My comment wasn't political. I engage in politics with them.
4:45 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
I can tell you, by consulting the annex to my presentation, that it is indeed only private sector companies, but if we had added CBC/Radio-Canada, we see that companies are increasingly realizing that their business strategies—and we recently saw this with the purchase of Shaw and BCE's proposed purchase, which is still before the CRTC—must be multi-platform strategies. Someone who has to deal with a number of regulations might say that's too complex, but that's the business reality.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you, Mr. Blais and Mr. Rodriguez.
Mr. Pomerleau, go ahead, please.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thanks for coming to meet with us again. There are some people we've been meeting for some time now.
Here's my first question. Approximately when should the action plan whose development everyone has been invited to take part in appear?
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
You're talking about the digital strategy?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Information and Communications Technologies branch, Department of Industry
We have—
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
What deadline have you set for yourself to prepare a plan? I suppose it will be submitted to the minister, but how much time have you given yourself to produce it?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Information and Communications Technologies branch, Department of Industry
The consultations have been started. Since then, Mr. Clement has been clear on the fact that we did not set a specific deadline, but that we were going to take the necessary time to study and analyze the submissions and develop a strategy.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
You're talking about the briefs that were submitted, etc.? Are you working on that now?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Information and Communications Technologies branch, Department of Industry
Yes, as Mr. Blais and I mentioned.
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Information and Communications Technologies branch, Department of Industry
We're working on that.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
All right. A lot of people from different fields who have come to meet with us have told us that, compared to what's being done elsewhere in the world, in many fields, we are lagging behind. First of all, is that true? I'd like to have your opinion on that point.
If we consider the amounts we are currently investing, that's not peanuts. We're investing large amounts and we seem to have programs that quite extensively cover the assistance we can give people. In spite of all that, other countries, especially in Europe, are apparently more advanced than we are. Can you tell me whether that's true?
Then perhaps you could provide some examples of that situation, if you have any or if you have previously studied the question. How can we explain why we have fallen behind despite everything we've done? What does that depend on?
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
The assessment as to whether we are lagging behind or not is very subjective. It depends on the fields. In the past, our frameworks have always been cultural support models. The French, the Germans and the Australians always came to see what we were doing. They recently came again, after the renovation we've just done. Very recently, France has taken a real interest in what we are doing with regard to virtual museums. We've innovated in this field. France wants to learn how we're doing that.
A few years ago, I invited some British individuals to take part in a reflection exercise. At the end of it, their conclusion was that we were too hard on ourselves. We were always saying we had to do more. They told us they considered Canada a leader. As you know, Montreal and Vancouver are the third biggest video game producers in the world. So it depends on the field. It's true that we are in the midst of a stunning boom for industries. Everyone is trying to adjust to a very quick change. However, I wouldn't say we are losing more ground than other countries. We are dynamic as well.
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
Yes, we're still in the peloton.
4:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage
Absolutely not. I previously mentioned to you that, in the field of music, Canada is the second largest exporter of musical talent in the world. That's as a result of policies adopted in the past. We are still modernizing them in order to maintain that pace.
4:50 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
My other question is for Mr. Beaudoin. It will be the last one, Mr. Chairman.
I live in a little village called Lefebvre, near Drummondville. The village was hooked up to the Internet as a result of funding that was released in order to install high-speed Internet. This isn't the only place where this hasn't yet been done. People from a number of small villages around there call me every day because it appears that, for all kinds of reasons, they can't be hooked up to the network. Either the company can't do it because it hasn't received funding, or those villages are already served by another company and that company doesn't want to serve everyone. An in-depth study is going to be conducted of all those cases.
My question is this: have you heard about similar problems in Canada? My colleague who was here earlier talked about that. She lives in St-Jérôme. The small villages around where she lives are experiencing the same problem. And yet funding has been provided to hook up to the Internet in the regions. Have you heard that there were problems in implementing that program?