Thanks, Madam Chair.
I wish I had 17 minutes. I've only been here for three years, and this may be one of the rare times when the Liberals, the New Democrats and the Conservatives are finding some sort of consensus on the matter.
I'd just like to clarify one thing. Yesterday we announced an aid package to assist journalists in their creative work, and today we are discussing authors and copyright.
I sympathize with Mr. Blaney and his then-government in 2012, which likely worked really closely with authors, very closely with the copyright officials, and with universities and educational institutions for a bargain. The bargain was to be fair, to respect fair dealing and to respect the 10% rule. I remember copying the chapters, but I remember paying the fee to do so.
Glenn Rollans, who has been here, has said that $26 would cover off all of Universities Canada's tariffs. That $26 per student would help to reduce the $50 million that isn't in the system. Maybe it's $50 million; I heard $30 million and $50 million, but I have documents here that say it's $50 million.
I'm a proud university grad. I went to the University of Alberta. I went to the University of Oxford. I have represented universities across the country as a student leader. What has happened is that the government, copyright and authors got into what has turned out to be a Faustian bargain with a sector of the economy that I respect greatly. The deal that was made in 2012 has not been respected by universities. Why would you choose to pay lawyers and go to court, and have no risk in doing so, and not just pay authors?
You could go to student leaders and say, “Put two cheap bottles of wine on the table, or a really good one, or put half a video game on the table to make sure the authors who are writing about LGBTQ people, indigenous people, people with disabilities, people of colour, and Canadian stories can have those books on university shelves in courses, digitally or not.”
We lead the world in AI. The Chinese are trying to beat us. We're not going to have Canadian textbooks in AI unless you fix this and start respecting the bargain that you made in 2012.
Now we have a similar conundrum in the 2017 review. Why would you choose to go to court, when there is no risk? Let me share this with you, because we can be selective in court judgments, Madam Therrien. At Federal Court in 2017, Justice Michael Phelan wrote, and I quote:
There is no explanation why 10% or a single article or any other limitation is fair.
Qualitatively, the parts copied can be the core of an author’s work, even to the extent of 100% of the work.
Equally importantly, listen to this. This is shocking: “allowing universities to copy for free that which they previously paid for” is not fair.
Help me square the circle. Why are you going to court, where you have no risk, instead of mobilizing and getting the $26 per student so that authors can be paid?