Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I find this discussion fascinating because it highlights two aspects of the bill. First, we are seeing just how imbalanced the bill is. On one hand, you have the Art Dealers Association of Canada, which represents businesses and is by no means struggling, and on the other, you have the artists, who are clamouring for the resale right, a right that already exists in 59 other countries.
Second, the Conservatives and the opposition parties are divided on a fundamental principle, as are the artists and the art dealers, if I may say so. That principle is this: the creative work belongs to the creator. And that notion does not come from me, but from the great philosopher John Locke. England's Queen Anne enacted the first ever copyright law based on that very philosophy. I find that extremely fascinating. And that principle is clearly front and centre today.
We could, as Ms. Shiell just said, reduce the work to a material object and say if it is sold, it is sold. We could also ask, as Mr. Del Mastro did earlier, how many times are we going to pay for a CD. When you buy a CD, you buy the right to use that CD to listen to the content on it. Assuming that the creative work belongs to the creator, as soon as that artistic content is copied onto another device, the artist should, at the very least, be compensated.
My understanding is that you want visual artists to have the resale right. Mr. Rodriguez said it was a matter of common sense, pure and simple. Of course it is, and why you ask? Because the work belongs to its creator. Therefore, regardless of the fact that the work may simply be a material object in the eyes of many—a material object about which there is much speculation—the fact remains that what art lovers are buying is the pleasure to enjoy their purchase, the pleasure to watch it. Nevertheless, the work itself remains the property of the creator, and in light of that, we should indeed be giving artists the resale right, as is the case in other countries around the world. Most importantly, we should not be depriving artists in Quebec and Canada of what they are due when their works are sold abroad.
I can certainly ask you questions, but I do not see how we can disregard such an important right for visual artists.
My question is for the Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec. In one of your documents, you say, and I quote: “that the private copying regime be extended to all apparatuses used to navigate on the Internet”. You say it should also apply to visual artists. Could you please elaborate on your proposal.