This bill is from the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session, which ended in August 2021.
Steven Guilbeault Liberal
In committee (Senate), as of June 29, 2021
(This bill did not become law.)
This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament has also written a full legislative summary of the bill.
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.
All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.
Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-10s:
This is a computer-generated summary of the speeches below. Usually it’s accurate, but every now and then it’ll contain inaccuracies or total fabrications.
Bill C-10 aims to modernize the Broadcasting Act, ensuring fair contributions from web giants, promoting Canadian content creation, and updating regulations for the digital era while addressing freedom of expression concerns.
Liberal
Conservative
Green
The House proceeded to the consideration of Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, as reported (with amendments) from the committee.
Speaker's RulingBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
There are 23 motions in amendment standing on the Notice Paper for the report stage of Bill C-10.
Motions Nos. 1 to 23 will be grouped for debate and voted upon according to the voting pattern available at the table.
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
moved:
Motion No. 1
That Bill C-10 be amended by restoring Clause 3 as follows:
“4.1 (1) This Act does not apply in respect of
(a) programs that are uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service — who is not the provider of the service or the provider’s affiliate, or the agent or mandatary of either of them — for transmission over the Internet and reception by other users of the service; and
(b) online undertakings whose broadcasting consists only of such programs.
(2) For greater certainty, subsection (1) does not exclude the application of this Act in respect of a program that is the same as one referred to in paragraph (1)(a) but that is not uploaded as described in that paragraph.”
Motion No. 2
That Bill C-10, in Clause 7, be amended
(a) by deleting lines 1 to 3 on page 12;
(b) by replacing lines 34 and 35 on page 12 with the following:
“(3.1) Orders made under this section do not apply”
Motion No. 3
That Bill C-10, in Clause 7, be amended by adding after line 25 on page 12 the following:
“(1.1) For greater certainty, programming services exclude any service that allows users who are not carrying on broadcasting undertakings to upload programs such as those provided by web applications, social media platforms and smart devices.”
Motions in AmendmentBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
Laurier—Sainte-Marie Québec
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by replacing lines 1 to 4 on page 14 with the following:
“(3) Paragraph 10(1)(b) of the Act is replaced by the following:
(b) prescribing what constitutes a Canadian program for the purposes of this Act and, in doing so, shall consider
(i) whether Canadians own and control intellectual property rights over Canadian programs for exploitation purposes, and retain a material and equitable portion of their value,
(ii) whether key creative positions are primarily held by Canadians,
(iii) whether Canadian artistic and cultural content and expression are supported,
(iv) whether, for the purpose of subparagraph (i), online undertakings and programming undertakings collaborate with:
(A) independent Canadian producers,
(B) a Canadian broadcaster producing its own content, or
(C) a producer affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster, and
(v) any other matter that may be prescribed by regulation;
(1.1) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing matters that the Commission is required to consider under subparagraph (1)(b)(v)."
Paul Manly Green Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
, seconded by the member for Edmonton Strathcona, moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 39 on page 14 the following:
“(7.1) Subsection 10(1) of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (g):
(g.1) prescribing the requirements for Canadian producers who are creating content for foreign undertakings and online undertakings that provide a social media service to be eligible to apply for the Canada Media Fund;”
Motions in AmendmentBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
Laurier—Sainte-Marie Québec
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 41 on page 14 the following:
(h.1) respecting unjust discrimination by a person carrying on a broadcasting undertaking and undue or unreasonable preference given, or undue or unreasonable disadvantage imposed, by such a person;
Paul Manly Green Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
, seconded by the member for Edmonton Strathcona, moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 43 on page 14 the following:
“(i.1) respecting the establishment of a framework for contractual practices between independent producers and programming undertakings and online undertakings;”
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 43 on page 14 the following:
“(i.1) respecting the establishment of a framework for contractual practices between independent and individual producers and programming undertakings and online undertakings;”
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 21 on page 15 the following:
“(4) Regulations made under this section do not apply with respect to programs that are uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service — if that user is not the provider of the service or the provider’s affiliate, or the agent or mandatary of either of them — for transmission over the Internet and reception by other users of the service.”
Motions in AmendmentBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
Laurier—Sainte-Marie Québec
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault LiberalMinister of Canadian Heritage
moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 21 on page 15 the following:
(4) Regulations made under this section, other than regulations made under paragraph (1)(i) or (j), do not apply with respect to programs that are uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service — if that user is not the provider of the service or the provider’s affiliate, or the agent or mandatary of either of them — for transmission over the Internet and reception by other users of the service.
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
moved:
That Bill C-10, in Clause 9, be amended by replacing lines 31 and 32 on page 16 with the following:
“to a broadcasting undertaking shall be fees that relate to the recovery”
Motions in AmendmentBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
Motions in AmendmentBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
Some hon. members
Agreed.
No.
Motions in AmendmentBroadcasting ActGovernment Orders
The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Alexandra Mendès) Alexandra Mendes
The hon. House leader of the official opposition.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Madam Speaker, we all recognize that this is a huge job we have to do, and we want to be sure that we make the right decision at each and every step. I do not want to dodge our responsibility.
If we move too quickly, we might miss some parts.
Need I remind the House that the reason there are so many votes in the House this evening is that other people, at another time, did not do their job?