Evidence of meeting #10 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was content.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
On a device that is different, a device that is much different.
National Executive Director, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
The primary use, Mr. Del Mastro--and we all acknowledge it, and you have to acknowledge it--of MP3 players is to record music. What we're looking for is the levy to be extended to those devices, please.
National Executive Director, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
We're not looking for handouts. We're just looking for the opportunity for consumers, business, and artists all to share in the digital media industry. That's what we're here to talk to you about, Mr. Del Mastro.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
I think the issue is that we have to get the copyright bill right so that the industry actually works, so that people are paying for goods that are produced, paying for intellectual property.
I wanted to ask you a question on the recent CRTC decision on value for signal, because I thought ACTRA was a huge loser on that. I really wanted to talk to you about that. Maybe at some point you can talk about it.
National Executive Director, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
I'd be happy to meet with you, Mr. Del Mastro, at any time, as we've done before.
Conservative
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I would simply like to ensure that we remain respectful towards our witnesses. This is an in-depth study on the future. There is no need for displays of partisanship.
You see, Mr. Galipeau, partisanship is what we must avoid. We are trying to conduct an in-depth study and, so far, it has been going well. We want that to continue. It is important for the future of our television, our radio and our artists.
Thank you.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Mr. Chair, I find the point raised by Mr. Rodriguez to be very relevant. I fully agree with him. I hope that everyone sitting around this table will react objectively to his comments.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Okay. With that, Mr. Wolfe, the last word is yours, because we do have to move on.
Prof. David Wolfe
I just want to try to make a very simple point for committee members. I think in debating these issues—and I realize some of them get quite heated—it's really important to appreciate that as Canadians we all have dual roles.
We are consumers of these products, but a growing proportion of the Canadian population, particularly in our larger metropolitan areas, is employed in these industries. In balancing the rights of consumers and producers, we also have to ensure that the policy mix we're putting in place is sufficient to ensure that the jobs will be there for the future, to continue to employ growing numbers of Canadians in these industries.
We need to think about our cultural and creative industries in a very broad and comprehensive sense and recognize that digital media are changing all of them. If we don't balance protections and rights on the consumer side with measures to ensure that the jobs needed for the future are being created, we're going to be doing our fellow citizens a huge disservice.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Thank you.
With that, we'll recess for four or five minutes and then reconvene.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
We'll call the meeting back to order with our next witnesses.
Again, I apologize, but the meeting will be over at 1:05.
First of all, we have with us Mr. John Bonnett, the Canada research chair in digital humanities and an assistant professor in the history department at Brock University. We also have with us Steve Anderson, the co-founder and national coordinator of OpenMedia.ca.
First of all, Mr. Bonnett, I do understand that the presentation is in English, but there is a French text to go along with it. If you'd like to make your presentation, please go ahead.
Dr. John Bonnett Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities and Assistant Professor, Department of History, Brock University, As an Individual
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, and thank you for the invitation and for the opportunity to speak here. I’m honoured to receive both.
My purpose in coming here today is a simple one. It's to provide a scenario, a forecast that points to two trends that I believe will be central in shaping the evolution of new media. By extension, it will impinge on the way that you, I, and those who follow us will communicate in the years and decades to come.
I do so first because I am a Canada research chair in digital humanities at Brock University, and, as such, I concern myself with how the computer can be used to support analysis, expression, and teaching in the various disciplines associated with the humanities.
I also do so because I am an intellectual historian. Canada was one of the first countries to systematically study the impact of communication on our planet’s past and present, and my career has been dedicated to studying the life and thought of one of the field’s founders, Harold Innis--
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
I recognize the fact that an effort was made to have a written version in French, but if we cannot have the video in French also, I would like the televisions to be turned off, so that everyone can follow the presentation using the document. French is not a second language, it is equal to English.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
If we had a presenter who had gone to this trouble to present in French, Canada's other official language, and who had also gone to the effort of making sure there was a duplicate copy on paper in English, I would not object to that, nor would I feel slighted by it. I think the witness has gone to some effort. I'd just ask committee members to be fair-minded about this.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Schellenberger
Can we have a consensus?
No consensus?
Then we'll shut the presentation off.
Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities and Assistant Professor, Department of History, Brock University, As an Individual
Mr. Chair, I have several graphics here that are in neither language. I could move forward to those and just skip the slides that are in any particular language. They are important in terms of my presentation.
Bloc
Carole Lavallée Bloc Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC
Their importance is another excellent reason for presenting them in English and in French.
Liberal