Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of this special legislative committee.
My name is Gary Maavara, and I'm executive vice-president and general counsel at Corus Entertainment. With me today is Sylvie Courtemanche, who is our vice-president of government relations. Sylvie is also the chair of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
We wish to thank the committee for this opportunity to speak to Bill C-11. We certainly recognize that the introduction of legislation to amend the Copyright Act of Canada is long overdue.
We applaud the government for its efforts on copyright reform and are generally supportive of Bill C-11, but Corus is seeking small changes to this bill to correct a historical mistake. Before we discuss this issue, we would like to establish our credentials on copyright matters.
Some of you may be surprised to learn that Corus is one of Canada's largest publishers of books for children through Kids Can Press. Corus is also one of the largest producers of television content, and our Nelvana studio makes some of the most popular children's programming. Our characters, such as Franklin the Turtle and Scaredy Squirrel, are seen by audiences and readers in more than 140 countries.
Corus also operates some of the most popular television channels in this country, including household favourites such as YTV, Treehouse, and the soon-to-be-launched ABC Spark channel. We are also partnered on television operations that serve audiences in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia.