Evidence of meeting #29 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was media.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michael Geist  Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, Professor of Law, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
April Lindgren  Principal Investigator, Professor, Local News Research Project, Ryerson University School of Journalism, As an Individual
Jean-François Bernier  Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage
Helen Kennedy  Director General, Broadcasting and Digital Communications, Department of Canadian Heritage
Luc Marchand  Director, Periodical Publishing Policy and Programs, Department of Canadian Heritage

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Thank you, Ms. Kennedy.

12:15 p.m.

Director General, Broadcasting and Digital Communications, Department of Canadian Heritage

Helen Kennedy

You're most welcome.

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Now we go to the question-and-answer session, beginning with Mr. Samson of the Liberals, for seven minutes.

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to welcome the witnesses. It's a pleasure for us to hear from you again. I hope that we will be wiser, this time, as we have had a lot of presentations and information from people on the ground. That has helped us give more thought to the issue.

I have a number of questions. The first question is about the fact that several witnesses who have appeared before the committee talked to us about a tax credit for advertisers in newspapers. They feel that this would be a good idea to ensure more revenues for those publications. What do you think about that idea?

12:15 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

All the ideas that have been presented to you are worthwhile.

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Now that's a political answer.

12:15 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

Yes. That's because it is a thin line between....

I am here to talk facts. We have looked at that proposal, and at all the others, and we are analyzing them just like you are.

I would like to bring your attention to the fact that a number of proposals have been made concerning tax credit and sales tax. Since the Minister of Finance is in charge of taxation in Canada, you might want to invite him to the committee or invite department representatives to test some of those ideas.

At this point, I would like to reserve my comments on the proposal's merits. The Income Tax Act already provides Canadian advertisers with an opportunity to deduct their advertising expenses in print newspapers. We talked about that on February 23.

That is all I would like to say.

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

In the preliminary consultations on local content organized by your department, did any solutions come to the fore that you would like to share with the committee?

12:15 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

Again, Madam Chair, we have taken note of the proposals that have been put forward and we are analyzing them. The committee's work, your report, the recommendations of the Public Policy Forum and the minister's consultations all contribute to the data we are considering to try to develop the best public policy possible and submit it to the government for approval.

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Something else we have heard about and you may be able to provide details on has to do with linguistic duality in rural communities and local media. Have you received any complaints related to that? Have any solutions been developed to provide more support for local media? A file doesn't always have to be reviewed for improvements to be made. Over the past few years, have any changes been made in terms of strategy to better reflect that concern?

12:15 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

Your question is multifaceted because, in the department—

12:15 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

I must have picked up something!

12:15 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

It's okay. I will consider things from the perspective of linguistic duality. We currently have tools that support media. There is CBC/Radio-Canada and the Canada Periodical Fund.

In the Canada Periodical Fund, which is intended for community magazines and newspapers, according to the department's definition, the issue of linguistic duality is dealt with in a special way. The approach is different from the usual practices. It recognizes linguistic duality. There are various eligibility criteria for the periodicals that are operating in minority language communities.

We can provide you with more details on those criteria if you like, but to answer your question, our programs already contain criteria adapted to the situation of minority language communities—in other words, francophone communities outside Quebec and anglophone communities in Quebec.

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

You have 30 seconds.

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

In closing, then, you aren't commenting on what was said regarding possible solutions. Since our study began, however, has anything emerged to give you a better sense of the problems you have to fix?

12:20 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

As for the factors I mentioned earlier, impacts are being felt in terms of the digital shift, the change in consumer habits, and the flow of advertising revenues all over the globe, as opposed to north of the border. I would say those are the three main factors.

Obviously, from a more social standpoint, journalism quality is a consideration. Does long-form journalism still have a future? You heard Ms. Lindgren's comments earlier. On our end, and in terms of the issues the committee is hearing about, I would say those are the concerns that are emerging.

12:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Thank you very much, Mr. Samson.

Mr. Maguire is next.

12:20 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to our witnesses for being here from Heritage this morning.

Mr. Bernier, you mentioned in your comments that digital is the future. Would you agree with the statement that digital is where the future is for most of our media outlets, notwithstanding the fact that we've had many tell us that rural newspapers and local news are very important to them?

12:20 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

One does not exclude the other, but a short answer to your question is that I don't think we're going to go back, so yes, digital is part of the future.

There is still a very strong demand for print in community newspapers and some magazines. Yes, digital is now part of the ecology, but in 15 years will there still be a Globe and Mail print version? Maybe 15 years is a little far in the future, but within the next five years, Mr. Nantel will still bring real newspapers if he's...I don't want to presume the result of the next election.

12:20 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC

Thank you.

12:20 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

He will still have print newspapers.

12:20 p.m.

NDP

Pierre Nantel NDP Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC

I'll do my best.

12:20 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Maybe I'd better interject on his behalf.

There's no doubt there will be. My point is to know what means we can use to ensure that happens. What's the most effective way to make sure of that? The rural and remote areas are the ones that still continue to read their local newspapers and get the news that way. That generational shift continues to take place, and it may only take five years, not 10 or 15, because of how quickly we've changed in the last five. What's the most effective way of making sure that people use that new technology, other than they'll do it by choice? What's the most effective way to have quality news on those modems for the people in those areas, given the fact that, as you've just indicated, Twitter, Facebook, and the 20 other groups are getting together to try to improve the quality of that news?

12:25 p.m.

Director General, Cultural Industries, Department of Canadian Heritage

Jean-François Bernier

That's a lot of questions.

There's certainly one thing for rural communities.... You need the broadband capacity to carry all that volume of news and Netflix and information, and in certain areas it's not obvious that the broadband is there to support this volume. The government has a plan to get broadband to a level where rural areas will have access to Internet just as you have in downtown Toronto, but it's challenging.

That's certainly one aspect of the equation: to have the digital capacity to carry all that information.