Good morning to our witnesses.
I find this morning's discussion to be a bit theoretical. As you are surely aware, this bill is about to die on the Order Paper. I am fairly certain that we will not be talking about Bill C-32 for very much longer, that today is our last meeting and that the bill will die on the Order Paper. So this is a theoretical discussion.
To begin with, I was quite surprised to see, in the first paragraph of your speaking notes, a list of all the provinces and territories that are part of your consortium. We can see that Quebec is not among them; but the way in which it is indicated is not very clear. The text says: “...Ministers of Education in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick...”
Would it not have been simpler, and more honest and direct, to say that the Quebec Minister of Education was not part of your consortium? The approach used is misleading and implies that there may be other things just beneath the surface of the brief that are less than straightforward. It makes me uncomfortable.
So the Quebec Minister of Education and the Quebec Government are not included. As you know, the National Assembly unanimously passed a motion against Bill C-32, specifically because of the education exemptions. I am not sure if you are aware, but it is quite difficult to achieve unanimous consent in the National Assembly, where you have Liberal federalists, PQ sovereignists and ADQ right-wingers.
The Minister of Education wrote a letter in opposition to Bill C-32. She wrote that the bill did not respect the value of artists' work. The Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec also came out against Bill C-32 for the same reasons, since the fair dealing provisions do not show respect for the work of artists or the value of that work.
I would not say that there is a unanimous Quebec view on Bill C-32, since I know one organization that supports it. That said, how is it that almost all Quebec institutions, organizations and orders of government are opposed to Bill C-32 and its education exemption and fair dealing provisions? How is it that, in Quebec, in the field of education, we all agree with paying artists and with the need to respect their work and to instil that value in our children? How is it that we do not have the same approach? Actually, I think that we do not share the same values. Last Tuesday, a witness sitting where you are sitting now told us that the difference was explained by the term “copyright,” that is, the right to copy.
In French, we do not talk about the right to copy. The term we use is the right of authors. We have respect for creators and their work.
So how is it that this works for Quebec and not for you? Would it be possible to have two approaches—each of us with our own sovereignty, you might say? If Canada and Quebec each developed its own approach, we would stop arguing about it. You could have your fair dealing roles, and we in Quebec would continue to respect our creators. Would it be possible to do that?
I would also like to know whether a school, a class, a child, a student or a school board has ever been taken to court by a copyright holder for breach of copyright.