Bill C-10 (Historical)

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) update the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in section 3 of that Act by, among other things, providing that the Canadian broadcasting system should serve the needs and interests of all Canadians — including Canadians from racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds — and should provide opportunities for Indigenous persons, programming that reflects Indigenous cultures and that is in Indigenous languages, and programming that is accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities;
(c) 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 Indigenous language broadcasting and the different conditions under which broadcasting undertakings that provide Indigenous language programming operate,
(ii) is fair and equitable as between broadcasting undertakings providing similar services,
(iii) facilitates the provision of programs that are accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities, and
(iv) takes into account the variety of broadcasting undertakings to which that Act applies and avoids imposing obligations on a class of broadcasting undertakings if doing so will not contribute in a material manner to the implementation of the broadcasting policy;
(d) amend the procedure relating to the issuance by the Governor in Council of policy directions to the Commission;
(e) 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;
(f) provide the Commission with the power to require that persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings make expenditures to support the Canadian broadcasting system;
(g) 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;
(h) 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;
(i) 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;
(j) 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
(k) 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.

[Jay Thomson, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Communication Systems Alliance]

Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

I am Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance, or CCSA.

CCSA represents about 100 independent communications companies across the country that provide bundled TV, Internet and telephone services to Canadians mostly living in smaller communities in rural areas. Our members include, for example, Cooptel in the Estrie region of Quebec, HuronTel in southwestern Ontario, and Milk River Cable Club in southern Alberta.

CCSA was formed in the early 1990s, around the same time that the current Broadcasting Act came into force. Like the act back then, our members at the time did not contemplate the growth in size and influence of the foreign digital giants. But also like the act back then, our members did not contemplate the massive consolidation that would take place in the Canadian broadcasting industry. Neither the act nor our members contemplated that just three domestic companies—Bell, Rogers and Quebecor—would come to dominate Canada's communications marketplace and that, through ownership of most of Canada's TV services and Canada's largest BDUs, Internet and wireless providers, those three companies would become Canada's own vertically integrated domestic giants.

In fact, those domestic giants have since become so big and influential that the CRTC recognized that it had a problem, namely that the giants now had both the incentive and the ability to engage in anti-competitive behaviour that could harm other broadcasters and Canadian consumers. To address that problem, the CRTC has established various safeguards that preclude the domestic giants from favouring themselves in ways that would increase costs and reduce choice for TV consumers.

Those consumer safeguards include a code that ensures you don't have to subscribe to the giants' unpopular TV channels to get their popular ones. The safeguards also include provisions in the digital media exemption order that ensure you can subscribe to your Internet provider of choice—and not just the giants' Internet services—to access the giants' online services like Sportsnet NOW and TSN Direct.

In its current form, Bill C-10 puts those consumer safeguards at risk. When we first reviewed the bill, our concern was that, in focusing on the foreign digital giants, it ignored the growth in size and influence of our domestic giants. We've come to realize, however, that the bill does the exact opposite. Instead of ignoring our domestic giants, it actually embraces them, but not all to the good. Specifically, our concern is that, as written, the bill will enable those giants to favour themselves in ways that will serve to increase costs and reduce choice in our broadcasting system. It will enable them to do exactly what the CRTC warned they would do if left unchecked.

Now much has been said in these hearings about how the bill will level the playing field. That's true, but the field it will level is the one that the [Technical difficulty—Editor] field of the giants. It will tilt even further in the giants' favour the other fields in the system, where smaller and independent players go up against those giants.

Bill C-10 and the draft direction contemplate imposing regulatory obligations on Netflix and others and relaxing existing obligations for Canadian broadcasters. Notably, it's the domestic giants that seem to have focused the most on supporting such regulatory relief. It would be easy to assume that the relief they seek relates solely to their CanCon spending and exhibition obligation. But make no mistake: They will also aggressively pursue relief from the consumer safeguards the CRTC has imposed on them.

This isn't speculation. The giants are already using the courts to challenge the CRTC's jurisdiction to establish and enforce those safeguards. If left as is, Bill C-10 will embolden the giants in their effort to escape the CRTC's consumer safeguards. To prevent [Technical difficulty—Editor] consequences and to protect consumer choice and affordability, particularly in smaller and rural communities, the bill needs to confirm the CRTC's jurisdiction to establish and enforce its safeguards against the giants, including those contained in the digital media exemption order. We've provided suggested language in our written submission.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

[Alain Strati, Assistant General Counsel, BCE Inc.]

Now let's talk about news and information. Canadians rely on broadcasters for their news, but the stations themselves are struggling. Local television has been unprofitable every year since 2013. This puts immense pressure on our ability to continue to deliver local news.

Bill C-10 recognizes the importance of local news. However, it fails to specifically provide financial support to local news. This oversight must be rectified. Otherwise, we risk losing voices and stories that enhance our Canadian democracy.

As a result, we're proposing an amendment to the bill that would ensure direct financial support for the production of news programming funded by both over-the-top and domestic distributors.

In conclusion, we support Bill C-10 because it lays the groundwork for a broadcasting system that treats all players fairly and equitably, and moves us towards a sustainable broadcasting system.

Thank you for the opportunity to present our views. A complete list of our proposed amendments was included in our written submission to the committee.

We look forward to answering your questions.

[Jonathan Daniels, Vice-President, Regulatory Law, BCE Inc.]

Good morning, Mr. Chair and honourable committee members. My name is Jonathan Daniels and I am the vice-president of regulatory law at BCE Inc. With me today virtually is my colleague Alain Strati, assistant general counsel, with whom I'll share my time in this opening statement.

As you may know, Bell operates a variety of broadcasting services across Canada—television, radio and online—in English, such as CTV, and in French, such as the recently launched Noovo network. We are also a distributor of Canadian programming through Fibe TV and satellite TV. We provide critical news and information services, ensuring Canadian voices are represented and heard. We also support Canadian talent with contributions to the Canada Media Fund, FACTOR and Musicaction, among others, and through our own Canadian production.

We support Bill C-10 and urge its swift passage into law. It is long overdue.

By now it should be clear that Canadian broadcasters are struggling. Foreign over-the-top providers are thriving in the Canadian market. Over the last four years, they grew their Canadian revenues by over $2.4 billion, while at the same time Canadian broadcasters experienced a drop in revenue of over $1.3 billion. Here's another jaw-dropping statistic. The three largest OTT service providers—Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, the latter of which just launched a little over a year ago—already have more Canadian subscribers, between the three of them, than all of Canada's television distributors combined.

Local television and radio are taking the brunt of the impact from foreign competition. In 2019, 70% of our country's private local television stations and 40% of private radio stations had a negative profit. The pandemic has, without a doubt, aggravated the situation.

Despite all this, we continue to operate, but we do so in a regulatory environment that is outdated and that imposes massive obligations on Canadian licensees while completely exempting foreign OTT providers.

As a much-needed first step, Bill C-10 would correct the structural imbalance by ensuring that OTT providers financially support Canadian programming. OTT has been granted a free pass for over 10 years, and OTT providers have not contributed to Canadian content programming, while taking away subscription and advertising revenue dollars from Canadian broadcasters. In contrast, Bell Media and Bell TV spend close to $1 billion annually on Canadian programming, through either direct expenditures or contributions to funds like the CMF.

However, it is not enough to require OTT to fund Canadian content. As the impact of OTT providers continues to grow and broadcast revenues shrink, the ability of domestic broadcasters to support Canadian content has weakened considerably. We must reduce the regulatory burden on domestic players. This can be achieved at the same time as growing the total expenditures on Canadian content by making OTT providers contribute their fair share.

Alain.

[David Sparrow, National President and Performer, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs, committee members and staff.

My name is David Sparrow. I'm a Canadian performer and the national president of ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists. Joining me today are Marie Kelly, ACTRA's national executive director; and Raj Shoan, ACTRA's general counsel.

On behalf of our 27,000-plus professional performer members, we are pleased to appear today before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to share our thoughts as part of the committee's study of Bill C-10.

We have been following the progress of this bill. Like other industry stakeholders, we want to ensure a strong and vibrant industry for Canadian content, which is why we are pleased to see that the proposed legislation will require online undertakings, including foreign services, to contribute to the production and discoverability of Canadian programs.

We do, however, have concerns about some of the other proposed changes in the bill and the impact they will have on our industry and, by extension, Canadian performers.

I'll pass it over to Marie Kelly, our national executive director.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Hello, everybody, and welcome back.

We are, of course, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. We're now studying Bill C-10 in detail, with clause-by-clause to follow. We have a couple more meetings with witnesses.

We have a good list of witnesses today, and I want to thank them for coming.

For the sake of transparency, colleagues, you will notice that we had Shaw Communications originally invited. Unfortunately they weren't able to make it, so we filled in that empty slot. We now have six groups of witnesses. They'll get five minutes each.

Today we have a new format. We're going to go the full two hours with all of our witnesses, instead of breaking it up into three in the first hour and three in the second hour. There will be a health break in between. If I forget it, please remind me that I've forgotten it. Nevertheless, let's get straight to our witnesses.

We have the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, ACTRA, represented by David Sparrow, national president and performer; Marie Kelly, executive director; and Raj Shoan, general counsel. We also have BCE Inc., represented by Jonathan Daniels, vice-president, regulatory law; and Alain Strati, assistant general counsel. We have, from the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance, Jay Thomson, chief executive officer.

From the Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture, we have Pascale St-Onge, president; and Julien Laflamme, coordinator, research and women's services, Confédération des syndicats nationaux. Also, from Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, we have Daniel Bernhard, executive director. Finally, last but by no means least, from Unifor, we have.... I'm not sure whether Mr. Dias was able to join us, but we have Jerry Dias, national president; Howard Law, director of media and national representative; and Katha Fortier, assistant to the national president.

Before we get into this, I see that Mr. Manly, from the Green Party, has his hand raised.

Mr. Manly, go ahead.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have, I think, a fairly quick question for Mr. Péladeau.

I'm hearing over and over again people talking about the difficulties that Canadian broadcasters face, in part because of regulation, and then also because of new streaming content, for example, coming on and not being subject to the same regulation. I tend to agree with your point that easing regulation on traditional broadcasters would be a better approach.

Would you describe the approach of Bill C-10, which, for lack of any real, thoughtful analysis of the situation, simply calls streamers “broadcasters”, as a lazy approach to solving the problem?

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's my turn to thank all the witnesses for being here with us today.

My first question is for Ms. Guay, of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Ms. Guay, this week, at the ADISQ meetings, the minister began by talking about Bill C-10 and the Broadcasting Act as a piece of cultural legislation.

Yesterday, we learned about the direction that the minister intends to send to this CRTC when the bill is adopted. What was your reaction yesterday when you learned about this letter and this direction?

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank all the witnesses who took the time to be here with us this afternoon.

My first question is for you, Mr. Péladeau.

In your conclusion, you said that you had serious reservations about the CRTC’s ability to enforce the new regulations in Bill C-10. You maintain that Parliament should at the outset have begun by reducing the regulatory burden on traditional distribution undertakings to restore a balance between them and the web giants before giving any consideration to regulating online players.

Where would you have liked to see more regulatory flexibility? Can you give us more information?

[Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and Chief Executive Officer, Quebecor Media Inc.]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of Parliament.

My name is Pierre-Karl Péladeau, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Quebecor Media. With me is Peggy Tabet, Vice President, Public and Regulatory Affairs of Quebecor Media.

Bill C-10 is a long-awaited overhaul of the Broadcasting Act. Since the act was last updated in1991, 30 years ago, the broadcasting landscape has changed dramatically and irreversibly with the appearance of foreign online streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon, whose market capitalization totals several hundred billion dollars. We're talking about $1.5 trillion for Amazon and $357 billion for Disney+. To put these amounts in perspective, the figure for Quebecor Media is $8 billion.

In 2020, 68% of French-speaking Canadians were subscribed to an online streaming service. One out of two were subscribed to Netflix.Globalized competition from web giants such as Facebook and Google has destabilized our broadcasting system and, more than ever, traditional domestic players such as TVA and Videotron are facing unjustifiable and unsustainable inequities

When Bill C-10 was tabled, the Department of Canadian Heritage’s presentation document promised, and I quote, to “address regulatory asymmetries” and “provide flexibility and predictability”. However, it is clear that the consequences resulting from the bill in its current form go against these objectives.

For traditional broadcasters, those that showcase our Quebec and francophone culture, and the resulting economic benefits, the bill imposes new regulatory restrictions that will not redress the unfair conditions they have been coping with for years and will only pull them even deeper into the financial abyss and a Kafkaesque universe of regulation. From 2010 to 2019, the profits before interest and taxes of Canada’s main private over-the-air television broadcasters plunged by a combined total of $223 million. By 2020, the decrease was even more drastic, totalling $336 million.

The original and legitimate intention of the legislator to regulate television broadcasting had, as a corollary, the granting of a licence and the holding of a privilege. Today, and for many years now, technology has made it possible to broadcast without borders and without a licence. Trying to regulate what cannot be regulated is unrealistic. That's why the bill should provide traditional players with the regulatory flexibility they need and lighten their administrative and financial burden by removing unnecessary requirements. Quebecor believes that to modernize the Broadcasting Act and make it fair for Canadian businesses, regulation should be eased when market forces are operating effectively, and regulated only when necessary.

We cannot leave unmentioned a point that is notably absent from this bill: a refocused mandate for CBC/Radio-Canada. Recently, the CRTC held public hearings on the renewal of CBC/Radio-Canada’s licences. One after the other, more than 70 industry stakeholders said the public broadcaster has gone off the rails. Add to that all the complaints filed with the CRTC on this issue and the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting petition against the new Tandem branded content service, which was signed by more than 16,000 people

CBC/Radio-Canada’s unbridled pursuit of ratings, its commercial ambitions and its insatiable thirst for revenue are undeniably undermining the future and the sustainability of private broadcasters and the diversity of content. Each player in the system must play its role. For this to happen, it is more important than ever that Parliament overhaul the public broadcaster’s mandate.

Today, after a 30-year wait, the government is proposing to regulate foreign players instead of deregulating domestic broadcasters. We have serious reservations about the CRTC’s ability to enforce these new regulations and restrict the behaviour of foreign online services. If this new act is not to be totally ineffectual, Parliament must urgently amend its laws to allow the creation of a flexible ecosystem with fair regulations and taxation in order to keep our businesses viable and our culture strong

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Wendy Noss, President, Motion Picture Association-Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee.

I appreciate the offer to provide you with a shared perspective of the global studios represented by the Motion Picture Association in Canada. These include Walt Disney, ViacomCBS/Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Netflix, NBCUniversal/Universal Pictures and Warner Brothers.

All are major investors in Canada's creative economy through the production of television and streaming series, feature films, world-class post-production, visual effects and animation projects, employing over 94,000 Canadians a year and supporting over 23,000 Canadian businesses.

Here with me today, albeit virtually, is John Lewis, who leads the IATSE in Canada. The IATSE is the largest union representing Canadian entertainment workers, costume and set designers, editors, cinematographers, visual effects artists and virtually all of the crew.

We both thought it would be useful to highlight that our major studios, and this major labour organization, are aligned on why modern cultural policy must take into account opportunity for all Canadians who create film, television and streaming entertainment in Canada, and the importance of foreign investment to Canada’s creative sector.

MPA members have for many years been partners and investors in Canada’s creative community, and today they offer Canadian consumers diverse choices online, including the global entertainment on Netflix; the much-loved Disney brands on Disney+; the all-reality show hits of NBCUniversal's Hayu; the ad-supported Pluto TV service from ViacomCBS and their new Paramount+ service; and the most popular Japanese anime streaming service in the francophonie, Sony's Wakanim.

It is with that broad perspective that we recognize a lot of good thinking went into the complex issues at the heart of Bill C-10. We want to commend the government for recognizing that a flexible approach is the logical way to create a modern broadcasting policy, given the rapidly and constantly changing dynamics in the marketplace.

Global streaming services bring opportunities for Canadian creators, contribute to economic growth and offer appealing entertainment for Canadian consumers. Allowing the CRTC to tailor conditions of service flexibly, based on how best each of these services can or should contribute to Canada, is a modern, sensible approach.

To fully modernize broadcasting policy, we recommend three criteria be added to the factors that the CRTC must consider in future decision-making prescribed in section 5 of the act.

Specifically, Parliament should require the CRTC to do the following: first, encourage competition and innovation; second, ensure that the regulation of online undertakings promotes choice and affordability for Canadian consumers; and third, recognize that competition and the growing choice of programming made available online contributes to broadcasting policy objectives.

By adding these criteria, the legislation will move beyond perpetuating decades-old broadcasting policy, and create more choice for consumers and more opportunity for Canadian creators and film workers.

Some argue that Bill C-10 should simply impose the same like-for-like obligations on online undertakings as Canadian broadcasters. This argument implies that nothing has changed in decades, from a time when the Broadcasting Act was designed to limit consumer choice. This approach ignores the many policy benefits that broadcasters have long enjoyed. It doesn’t take into account the very different business models of streaming services, their content offerings, and it doesn't recognize the unique benefits that global studios bring to Canada through investment in production.

While some are asking you to amend the bill to reduce flexibility, we believe the right way to serve Canada's creators, workers and consumers is to develop a policy framework that embraces change and helps Canada benefit from it.

Online undertakings create global entertainment, and reflect a wide range of viewpoints and experiences. This content is made in Canada with Canadian creativity. It is part of a global content marketplace that has led to foreign investment in production in Canada of over $4.8 billion annually. Almost 90% of the growth in production investment in Canada over the last five years, and more than half of all production in Canada, comes from global studio investments fuelled by these new undertakings.

Talented Canadians, who want to stay in Canada, develop their skills, work at the top of their craft and help create stories that resonate with audiences around the world, need this policy to be flexible and adaptive. Viewers, who want the best stories from Canada and around the world, need this policy to be forward-looking and consumer-friendly.

A modern approach that promotes investment, competition and innovation over protectionism will make for a bigger creative marketplace in Canada, more talent development opportunities for Canadian creators, more jobs for Canadian workers and benefits for Canadian consumers.

Thank you for allowing us to share this perspective. I'd be pleased to answer any questions.

[Nathalie Guay, Executive Director, Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions]

Thank you, Mr. Skolnik.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Nathalie Guay and I'm the Executive Director of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

You've received our seven main proposals for the improvement of Bill C-10. I'll go over them quickly and I'd be happy to hear any comments or questions you may have.

First of all, distribution services provided by online companies need to be included, as was mentioned earlier today, and social media need to be included unambiguously. We understand that the intent is to include social media, and the role they play, in organizing professional content, but we find that the exclusions in Bill C-10 are causing confusion. Our approach would included them from the outset, so that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the CRTC, can fully exercise its new powers to collect information from these companies, and determine whether they should to be required to contribute to our ecosystems and how they should do so.

Second, the system ought to be under Canadian control, for our cultural sovereignty, our identity and our social cohesion. The CRTC direction that has generated so much discussion does not apply to undertakings that don't need a licence. The system can be essentially Canadian, in spite of the presence of a number of foreign undertakings.

Third, the act must continue to promote Canadian talent. The wording of paragraph 3(1)(f) under subclause 2(3) of the bill, could mean that Canadian broadcasting undertakings would no longer have any obligation to use Canadian talent, whereas the current wording already allows for factoring in the nature of the undertaking.

Fourth, we think that opportunities for reference to the Governor in Council should be broadened. Bill C-10 assigns many powers to the CRTC. We need to strike a better balance by allowing civil society organizations to have recourse to review a CRTC decision.

Fifth, more robust provisions are required to ensure that original French-language content is created rather than simply translated content or content subtitled in French. For proper service to the cultural diversity, original French-language programming from francophone minorities is needed, as well as programming in indigenous languages.

Sixth, orders should be applicable for a maximum period of time and be subject to amendment, to allow broadcasters and producers to plan their programming and their productions more effectively, and also to ensure that the conditions are reviewed and that all intervenors can have input concerning a service.

Seventh, a move towards the lowest common denominator should be avoided. The wording in paragraph 5(2)(a.1) under subclause 4(1) of the bill, for example, opens the door to undertakings being able to compare themselves to others more easily with a view to obtaining less restrictive conditions. It may be more logical and beneficial to adapt spending requirements to specific undertakings rather than regulate what might appear to look like a minimum applicable to all. We would also like to have a public hearing process for issuing orders.

Two other modifications might also be made. The CRTC should continue to rule on the percentage of programs in various genres; otherwise, programs of national interest, children's programming, dramatic programming and documentaries are likely to be neglected at the expense of less expensive programs like sports and reality shows.

The CRTC must also be able to oversee contractual practices between independent producers and programming undertakings, including the music sector. That proposal from the Yale report should be included, given the size of some of the players that will be subject to CRTC orders and regulations.

Thank you.

[Bill Skolnik, Co-Chair, Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Thank you to the committee for inviting us here this afternoon. My name is Bill Skolnik. I'm co-chair of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, CDCE. We are a coalition of 43 organizations representing more than 200,000 creators, performers and professionals in trade associations, music and screen production, publishers, unions and collectives.

For more than 20 years, our members have been working together to protect and promote Canada's diverse cultural expressions. My colleague Nathalie Guay and I have been CSO delegates at several UNESCO assemblies on this topic. This crucial protection and promotion requires the exercise of cultural sovereignty. The review of the Broadcasting Act is an essential part of the tool kit that can return some balance to our ecosystem. It is worth noting that the maintenance of cultural diversity was deliberately included in the terms of reference for the Yale commission.

Recently, it was reported that one in four people working in this sector lost their jobs in 2020 due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, companies providing access to cultural expressions online have made substantial profits. Netflix's revenues increased by more than 22% during 2020. It was a great year for Spotify too. They saw their total subscriptions rise by 27%.

The CDCE applauded the tabling of Bill C-10 on November 3, 2020, and welcomed the agreement of all parliamentarians to move the bill forward at an accelerated pace. To us, this represented agreement on the urgency to act.

Many of the people who have appeared before you have referred to our proposals to improve the bill. We have gone to the heart of the matter to ensure that the Broadcasting Act truly allows Canada to maintain cultural sovereignty. The changes that we ask you to contemplate are the result of an unprecedented consensus created by our multi-faceted and eclectic membership. We will respond to the draft policy direction with the same objectives. The Broadcasting Act is not just for regulation; it's cultural policy, and it has to remain cultural policy.

I will now turn the floor over to Nathalie, who will present these proposals to you.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Welcome back.

Welcome to the second round of today's meeting. We are discussing Bill C-10.

We will go ahead with testimony. We are running tight on time. I'm hoping to get two rounds in. I may ask for permission to cut down a little bit on the time in the second round. Please bear with me. We will get to that a bit later.

In the meantime, I want to introduce our guests. From the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, we have Nathalie Guay, executive director, and Bill Skolnik, co-chair. From the Motion Picture Association-Canada, we have Wendy Noss, president. From the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, we have John Morgan Lewis. Finally, from Quebecor Media, we have Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and chief executive officer, and Peggy Tabet, vice-president of public and regulatory affairs.

We will start with the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Mr. Skolnik, you have five minutes, please.

[Lyne Bessette, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you very much.

I'd like to put the same question to the Independent Broadcasters Group.

Do you agree that the act must be modernized immediately?

If Bill C-10 were passed, what effect would that have on the broadcasters you represent?

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much.

I come from Edmonton Strathcona, and we have a massive francophone population. I have deep concerns about what is going to be happening to make sure the official-language minorities are protected, their language rights.

I'm going to ask a few questions of the Independent Broadcast Group.

You were probably watching on Monday when we had the minister join us. I did ask the minister if Bill C-10 would guarantee that Canadian broadcasters could not be bought by foreign companies.

How do you feel about that? Why do we need to see a provision in the bill to protect our Canadian broadcasters? Could you discuss that a little, Mr. Perreault or Mr. Fortune?