Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 2nd, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have two minutes.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

As I said earlier in the context of the Canada media fund, it goes without saying, given the extremely worrisome decrease in the amount available in the media fund and the declining revenues of cable companies because people are giving up cable, we wanted to increase the federal government's contribution to funding to ensure that we maintain the same level of production, temporarily.

The funding of the media fund still represents 33%, or one-third, of all funding allocated to French-language production, which reassures our producers of French-language content.

[Rémi Massé, Liberal, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Madam Minister.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you because the creative framework you are presenting is excellent. We have all had the opportunity to read it, and we are particularly proud of it.

More specifically, could you give us some examples of creative measures that would help to support the cultural industry in terms of the Canadian Francophonie?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Massé, if you ask for examples, the minister won't be able to answer, because you have only 15 seconds left.

Perhaps the minister can answer.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

In fact, our government is the first to have the courage to modernize the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act, and to revise the Copyright Act, while working with the CRTC and strengthening the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada. We are very proud of that. It's a historic opportunity that comes around once every 30 years or so, and we grabbed it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Now we're going to go to a second round. It's going to be a three-minute round only, because we have only 15 minutes to do that.

We will begin with Mr. Clarke, for the Conservatives.

You have three minutes, please, Mr. Clarke, and I'm going to cut you very sharply on that—and everybody else as well.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I have three minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have three minutes for the question and answer.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Minister, you said that you are working with people on the ground to promote culture, so that Quebecers and French-speaking Canadians have access to more content and so that people around the world have access to the content we produce.

However, over the last year, your government has met with digital giants, as you like to call them, 99 times. In particular, you met with Google representatives 37 times. In addition, Google representatives asked to meet with you five times.

Was your chief of staff present at these five meetings? I'm asking because we know she worked for Google in the past.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

It goes without saying that we need to meet the digital platform leaders since they are part of the lives of Canadians. If I looked at your phone, dear colleague, I am convinced that all the platforms whose officials we met with would be represented—

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

So your chief of staff was at the meetings?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—and in general on all telephones, on mine and on the phones of everyone here.

That said, the reality is that we have to hold these meetings because it is important—

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

You and your chief of staff.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—that there be Canadian content on these platforms, but we also have had a lot of meetings with representatives from the Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo, or ADISQ, from the Union des artistes, or UDA—

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

But not really.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—and even from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, or SOCAN—

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

You met with ADISQ representatiaves once, Madam Minister. You met with them a single time, and with Netflix representatives 16 times.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

—and with representatives from the Association québécoise de la production médiatique, or AQPM, because the reality—

Madam Chair, may I finish my answer?

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Was your chief of staff present during the meeting with Google representatives?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Madam Chair, may I have time to answer the question?

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Could I please get an answer, Madam Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I would like to ask everyone to please keep their questions and answers to a minimum.

But go ahead, finish your sentence, Madame Joly.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

In reality, it is very rare for cultural representatives to register on the lobbyist registry. I had many more meetings with cultural people, dozens, even hundreds of meetings across the country in French and English, including representatives from the Canadian Media Producers Association, CMPA, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Canadian Independent Music Association, or CIMA, in addition to representatives from the various major platforms.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

So, very good, if it's true.

You saw that we tabled a groundbreaking report this morning on Air Canada. We decided, in the Standing Committee on Official Languages, to recommend that the government once and for all give coercive powers to the Commissioner of Official Languages to ensure that French-speaking Canadians are absolutely respected when it comes to their language rights.

What do you think of this recommendation, which is still quite bold?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

I haven't yet had the opportunity to read the report. I will be pleased to see your recommendations.

It goes without saying that official languages are very important to our government, and that the Commissioner of Official Languages plays a fundamental role in government, and generally across the country, since he truly ensures the vitality of linguistic communities.

When it comes to official languages, we know that we can always do better. Our government clearly aims to support the vitality of our communities and to ensure that bilingualism in the public service is improved.