Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 9th, 2009

[Judith LaRocque]

Yes, he's right.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I'm not the type to argue over 3¢, but where I come from, it means a lot.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Okay.

You're right; if you put the same analysis toward the Canadian Television Fund, you'd be in some deep water, but of course the Canadian Television Fund doesn't serve that purpose. The only unique, specific purpose of the website is to attract users. That's not the only purpose of the CTF. So $1.98 per hit is, I think, extraordinary.

How do you get that number? You just take the number of unique hits—it's not hard to do if you talk to a web programmer--and divide by the number of dollars it costs—

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

No, I'm purely talking ideology here.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

There you are. Well, that's fine; I don't know which way you're going on that, but that's okay.

With regard to copyright, it's actually a joint responsibility between Minister of Industry Tony Clement and me. The timing of the legislation is something we're still determining, quite frankly. It will be either the late spring or fall, but more likely the fall.

We're taking a look at Bill C-61. I think part of the problem previously around Bill C-61 was that a lot of conspiracy theories were cultivated around that. I think not having legislation out there for people actually to discuss and talk about and sink their teeth into caused a lot of fears that I think were unfounded.

We want to move quickly on this. It wasn't just in our election platform; I think more precise language is in the throne speech, which was adopted by this House back in November. That throne speech made it clear, and had the support of this House, that we would come forward with copyright legislation.

So we are going to be doing that. It will be a shared responsibility between me and Tony Clement. That actually speaks to the balance you're describing, which is—

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Are you scheduling any more consultations per se?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Certainly there will be conversations between now and then.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I mean consultations. Will there be anything formal between now and then?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I'll be having those conversations with Minister Clement.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Just so I'm clear, you're looking at the fall.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Perhaps, but when we've made a determination we'll let you know. But it is something we are tackling, because our legislation is certainly quite out of date.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Would you say that Bill C-61 was flawed or had flaws that you want to fix?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I don't pretend to be a copyright expert, but a lot of concerns were raised about it. By and large it clearly went in the right direction, but there were some concerns.

Let me just say this about copyright. Between this committee and the reputation it has engendered over the years and the industry committee and the reputation it has engendered over the years, copyright is going to be one of those really non-partisan issues in how it goes forward. It's an issue like the apology to first nations for residential schools, and the creation of some programs under the Liberals like the Veterans Bill of Rights. It's very technical.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

It can be. I think time is of the essence.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

We should take a good run at it and work on it together. That's what we plan to do.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

As a non-signatory of WIPO, I strongly suggest that late spring would be better, but if you think it should be in the fall I guess we don't have much of a choice.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I'll take your opinion under advisement.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

The postal assistance program is aimed at helping Canadian publishers, as you know. You mentioned this in budget 2009. Am I correct in saying that you'll announce a redesign during the week of February 16, or that some type of redesign of this program is coming up?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

No, the money that was announced in the budget is $30 million over two years. It replaces the $15 million per year subsidy that Canada Post has pulled out of.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

So what kind of financial shortfall will the publishers face in this situation?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

There will be none, unless the deputy minister wants to correct me in some way. I think the program will go forward. The idea is to have a seamless transition so that people can pretend the politics of Canada Post and what we saw in Parliament.... Our government had to give the directive in order for Canada Post to--

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

So you're picking up what Canada Post left behind.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Yes, that's the intention.

Judith.

[Judith LaRocque]

That's exactly right. We're making up the shortfall from the Canada Post contribution, so it should be seamless for the recipients of those dollars.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Okay. Thank you.