This week, my colleague and I announced a major reform of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act. This is a historic announcement in itself because the federal government has acknowledged for the first time that the Internet giants and the various players in the digital field will have to contribute to Canadian content.
It took seven years for the first Broadcasting Act to be created. Broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada represent a $66 billion system and hundreds of thousands of jobs. We necessarily want to present a good act that will have positive impact and address four objectives: to make the Internet giants contribute; to revise the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada, which is stated in the Broadcasting Act; to revise the mandate of the CRTC, which is also stated in that act; and to support local news. According to the Broadcasting Act, broadcasters have an obligation to support the news.