Thank you, Madam Chair.
Despite all of our chair's goodwill and sincere intentions for creators, we are facing a government that has been shy in requesting what has to be done, a simple GST on subscriptions to Netflix. Just from that alone, what can we expect from them, really?
We all have to face this. We hear about the artists, and we're not even able to add on GST to a subscription to Netflix. This is ridiculous, completely ridiculous. There's no point, and Mr. Morneau may hide it in all sorts of phrases like, “We are coordinating with the international....” No. GST, a destination tax, is something that is required almost everywhere, if I'm not mistaken, even in 27 of the United States. He's really diluting the issue of GST, which is ridiculous. It is because of these guys who are going to say, “Netflix tax? Argh!” It is not a Netflix tax. It's the GST, my friend. That's it.
It is also this government that said no to recommendation 12 in that big report we had on the disruption of media, which said we should have Internet providers supply some sort of fund, like the Canada Media Fund. This is because the principle at that time was if your business is into providing international singles and big offers of entertainment to all Canadians, we were under the impression that our Canadian content needed you to put 5% of that good, big business into funds so that we could create our own stories on the screen. Again, we heard, “No, we will never do that. No, no, no. Why would we do that?” I'm going to tell you why.
It's because, Ms. Dorval, I've been working for, I would say, 23 years in the music and TV-related business and I was directly involved, from 1987 to 2002, in the relationship between radio broadcasters and television and music. It is so right when you say that you've been the best partner that we could have, so right. In the situation that we're facing now, these creators simply don't have enough money to put food on the table for their kids. That's what's happening. We need to open our eyes. We need to stop saying, “I don't want to see that and I'm going to watch Netflix on the train while riding back home.” We have to face reality. Broadcasters, artists, creators and cable distributors have all been involved in what Mélanie Joly used to call, “an ecosystem”, and that is so right. It was right, and it worked.
How come it worked? When Bryan Adams was here—and we shall not get into the star thing: “Oh, Bryan Adams”—Bryan Adams is an accomplishment of our system. Why has he been signed? It's because the label—I think it was A&M that signed him at the time—knew there was MAPL content to face for radio broadcasting in Canada. They said, “We'll sign this guy, and we will commit to our commitment to be involved in the Canadian industry and the entertainment business.” The Canadian content that they were looking for is why they do it.
Nowadays, what do we do? We do zip. We do zero. You're so right to tell us about the EU approach.
I would like to clarify something. Ms. Dorval, you said that multinationals get a large portion of the revenues from the various public performance rights. Yet you know very well that it is a different story in Quebec. You should say that, in Quebec, most of the big artists sign with independent record labels, which often have interests in their publication. They are small record labels, with people who are very committed and work as a community. So it is a different story in Quebec.
Mr. Novotny, you said we should take a global approach that you describe as techno moral, like the approach of companies such as Netflix. We had a global approach in the past and it worked. If Bruce Springsteen had not received public performance rights for his songs on the radio, A&M or CBS would not have sent a copy to radio stations and told them not to play it. Radio stations would simply not have received it and would not have played it. There has been harmonization of measures with other countries in the past.
We live in an international context and people will not want their work performed in our country if they do not receive royalties.
I would like to hear your opinion. It is of course very important, Mr. Novotny and Mr. Posner, for the artists to come here to speak for themselves. Agencies that collect royalties certainly can behave subjectively at times. They earn their living through the mechanical aspect, so we would like to preserve that. Others earn their living from the public performance of music on the radio or under continuous streaming contacts. The agencies have their own visions since collecting royalties is their job. For your part, you are the real artists and we are glad to hear your point of view. You are the reason we are here.
Moreover, Ms. Dorval and Ms. Wheeler, you both have experience negotiating with committees. I would like to hear your opinion on a feeling I have that really bothers me. I am not saying this to be mean. Honestly, I like everyone here; you are all good people. I must say, however, that just about everyone got lost because half of your brief was so complicated. It makes us wonder how much those artists receive in royalties and where they come from.
Do you not consider it a bit worrisome that the government has mandated both the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology and the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to study this matter? We really do not know where we are going. For my part, I need a bit of roadmap. I will ask the chair of our committee because I know she is in very good faith. Could we zoom out to get a better idea of where we are at?
Both committees are working away. No one will have a complete opinion. You were certainly there at the workshops in 2012. The parties had specialists who knew the subject well. They helped us understand. It is both very complex and very important for our culture.
I would like to ask each of you the following question and you can take the remaining time to answer. Do you think the government should explain what it is trying to achieve? Can we for instance draw on European Union legislation to see whether we can do that?