Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 28th, 2013

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I also want to wish all the best to your new deputy minister, Ms. Swords.

Mr. Hertzog, thank you for joining us.

Madam Minister, it can be assumed that you and your closest collaborators have a general idea of the aspects of supplementary estimates that pertain to your department.

One of those close collaborators is your director of policy. This is a very important position, given the potential influence on the department's directions in terms of supplementary estimates. So I would like to know whether you appointed Patrick Rogers to that position or whether his nomination came from the Prime Minister's cabinet or someone else.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Wow!

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Mr. Dion, I'm ruling that out of order. It's outside the subject of today's meeting, which is the department and the supplementary estimates.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Chair, yesterday your colleague, the chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Mr. Benoit, accepted this question. It's clearly linked to the influence that a close collaborator of the minister may have on the estimates, so I would say that for consistency, maybe you might revisit your view.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

I'm going to rule that out of order.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

So be it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Monsieur Dion, we did stop the clock for that, so carry on.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I appreciate that. Although I disagree with your decision, I respect the fact that you are the chair and I will go ahead with another topic, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Ms. Glover, you announced that you wanted to unbundle television channels—home bundling, pick and choose, as the Americans say. The CRTC's mandate does not seem to include consultations. This is a very important policy, and we have to make sure it is properly thought out.

Madam Minister, will you ask the CRTC to carry out very extensive consultations? Will you hold any consultations yourself?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for the question.

I am very proud of my team at the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages. Our team is not made up of only political staff, but also of public servants. It is an honour to work with all the employees of this department.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Are you inviting me to repeat the question I asked earlier, Mr. Glover?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

No.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I'm talking about the question regarding your director of policy.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I'm trying to move along. I will repeat it; I am proud of everything.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

That leads me to ask questions about your director of policy, Madam Minister. I think that the Chair will let me speak because the minister invited me to do so.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Can I continue?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Carry on.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you.

Can I finish without being interrupted?

I am really proud of them. They work very hard, and I will continue to do the work I have to do for Canadians.

First, I want to assure you that I make my own decisions. Second, I will answer your question.

The CRTC announced a long time ago that it was consulting Canadians regarding the future of television. Of course, we took the opportunity to ask the commission—as long as the consultations were being conducted pursuant to section 15 of the Broadcasting Act—to address this issue we think is key. Consumers must be given more options. That is what they want.

The CRTC will carry out a comprehensive study during its consultations. They will submit a report to me by April. We will then consider the issues raised not only by consumers, but also by official language minority companies and communities. I take this matter seriously. We will unbundle television channels and use the CRTC's expertise to help us with that.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

You say that the CRTC has the mandate to consult all the organizations and groups you just talked about.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

As it was just mentioned, you will invite the CRTC. The commission is perfectly aware of its mandate, but under section 15, we have the right to ask it for a report. That's what we are doing.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I know about the report, but I don't know whether any consultations are being held to find out what the consequences of such a decision are on the variety of channels, on the francophone minority offer and on Canadian content. Is the CRTC holding consultations on this? That's not part of the mandate you gave it.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I will repeat what I said in order to be clear. Under section 15 of the Broadcasting Act, we have the right to ask the CRTC to submit reports and carry out investigations.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

And a consultation.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

We asked it to comply with section 15 by producing a report and conducting a study. That's our right, and that's what we did.