I would just like to make a couple of additional comments.
First I'd like to thank members of this committee for agreeing to sit on the legislative committee. I know many of you have parliamentary obligations beyond this committee and sit on other committees. I think your agreement to have the legislative committee, where you have more flexibility to deal with this legislation and to come together and work cooperatively on what is large, complicated, and technical legislation is a very good sign of cooperation for something that I think we all agree is essential for Canada's future, which is a true, proper modernization of Canada's intellectual property rights regime. So I want to thank all members of this committee for agreeing to this process and also for inviting me here today.
The consultations that Minister Clement spoke about are what resulted in this legislation.
Bill C-32 is the result of the extensive efforts made over the last decade to modernize our copyright law. It is flexible, balanced and consistent with international standards. It reflects the exact approach that is needed to create jobs and promote the new technologies of tomorrow. Allow me to explain why it's important.
The contribution of the digital industries that make up a huge part of Canada's economy, frankly, can't be understated. They comprise, in total, 5% of Canada's GDP. That's nearly $50 billion in direct economic impact for Canadian industries, nearly one million jobs across Canada, and growing.
It is absolutely essential that we protect these jobs and these industries that are critical to Canada's economic success.
Digital technologies are fuelling the Canadian economy and enabling job creation. For example, the entertainment software industry represents $1.7 billion a year for Canada's economy. More than 250 gaming development companies employ more than 14,000 people across the country.
Canada's film and television industry has over 160,000 jobs from coast to coast, a $5.2 billion industry for this country. These are important jobs that we as parliamentarians must be committed to ensuring stay in Canada and are protected well into the future.
Before we take any questions, there's one central part of this bill that I think has been underreported and I think underappreciated in terms of Canada's intellectual property rights regime, and that is that this legislation, as many of you know, has a provision within it that mandates Parliament to review Canada's intellectual property regime and our copyright laws every five years. By law, Parliament will be forced to keep our copyright legislation up to date going forward.
This week marks the 10-year anniversary since the last time Canadians elected a majority Parliament. Because of successive minority Parliaments, it's become politically very difficult, I think, for this legislation to be addressed and updated, in spite of many efforts in the past by John Manley, by Jim Prentice, and now by Minister Clement and I to get this right.
I think what's important is that the political pressures of Parliament and the possibility of an election campaign cannot arrest our responsibility as a country to maintain our intellectual property rights regime. So while we think that Bill C-32 strikes the appropriate balance in terms of what's in the best interest of all Canadians, we also recognize that in the future there will be new technologies, new pressures, new dynamics that come forward, and in spite of any political dynamic, Parliament must be forced to make sure that Canada's intellectual property rights regime stays up to date, in line with international obligations, and, most importantly, in line with what's in the best interests of Canada's future.
So I think that element of the bill, the five-year mandatory renewal of this legislation, is the big win of this legislation for all Canadians. It will force Parliament to have to deal with this legislation on an ongoing basis to make sure that this massive engine of Canada's economic growth, which is the creative economy, will forever be well served by Canada's intellectual property rights regime.
Again, I want to thank all of you for being involved in this process. This is a large legislative effort. It's a sincere effort on our part to get this right in the best interest of all Canadians. We look forward to working with you in the weeks ahead.