In our opinion, the important amendments to the Act flow from the WIPO treaty that Canada has ratified. That means creating an exclusive right to make works available to the public—an exclusive right for producers to authorize or refuse to make their sound recording available to the public in digital format.
Our position is that it's very important that this right be recognized. That way, as Gilles Valiquette was saying, we could do business in the digital universe; however, we want this bill to provide us with the necessary economic tools. We don't want it to take tools away from us. We want to be given the tools that will allow us to negotiate business arrangements with the iTunes and YouTubes of this world. So, we feel it is very important that we have the exclusive right to authorize or refuse to make our work available. And that is completely in keeping with the WIPO treaty that Canada signed in 1996, but never ratified.
Mr. Lefebvre.