Canadian Heritage Committee on April 14th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Van Loan, that's it. Your time's up, I'm sorry.

Now we go to Mr. Nantel, from the New Democratic Party.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for being with us, Madam Minister.

My thanks also go to Mr. Flack and Mr. Francis whom we have in fact met recently.

I will talk about the future. Culture happens in the past but also in the present and in the future.

I am part of the cultural community and I am pleased to see your clearly federational and enthusiastic approach. However, there may be a wrench in the works. First, I’m thinking of the make-up of CBC's board of directors. Despite the nice investments into CBC, we know that its board is very partisan and conservative. I think that was basically the selection criteria because at least nine members of 12 are affiliated with the Conservatives. For instance, I’m thinking of the people who were appointed and will sit for quite some time, including Robert Jeffrey, former treasurer of the Conservative party in Nova Scotia. That man will still be on the board for almost four years. Conversely, some people will be leaving soon. I am referring to Hubert Lacroix and Rémi Racine, whose contracts expire in December and June 2017 respectively.

The Liberal Party indicated that an independent appointment process would be set up. When will that be?

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

That is a good question.

We are actually working together on introducing this new appointment process in the next few weeks. That is a priority for us. My mandate letter actually includes the development of a new appointment process to rebuild the public’s trust on the matter.

So please rest assured on the issue.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Great. We are looking forward to it.

The other generalists had a strong reaction to the funding. Like newspapers and radio, they are also in trouble because of the leak of advertising capital to other web media. Internet broadcasting is also placing them in a hard position. We must keep in mind that 80% of advertising revenue from the web goes to search engines, so directly to the U.S. without taxes being collected and without an advertising contract for the companies here.

This brings me to the question of digital platforms, which you have mentioned a great deal. As you said, audiences are migrating to these new technological platforms that are not regulated. It is difficult to contain them and to find compensation for our rights holders.

Could you give me your personal opinion on the commitments made by your predecessor, Mr. Dion, who used to sit right here in my place on this committee? He was asking that the way in which the Copyright Board of Canada operates be reviewed. During the election campaign, you also indicated that you would hold preliminary consultations on the review of the Copyright Act.

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

We all know that Parliament must move forward with the review of the Copyright Act.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Will there be preliminary consultations?

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

Of course we are going to work with the committee to ensure that this piece of legislation is reviewed. Prior to that, we are also going to hold public consultations on digital platforms and on how to support Canadian content in the digital era. Clearly, copyright issues will definitely be raised by the various stakeholders. As a result, we will already have information on the issues and problems we need to address and their solutions. In those circumstances, we will also be able to review the legislation properly, which should take place in 2017.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

However, the Copyright Board of Canada has done very little when it talked about Tariff 8 in terms of streaming. Let me remind you that it is urgent for music rights holders that Canada set up an administrative tribunal that will assist in developing the agreement between rights holders and broadcasters.

You must have read—I’m actually convinced that he you have read it seeing the suitcase you brought with you when you came into the room—the Nordicity report by Peter Miller, which refers to the many job losses that would result from the infamous Let's Talk TV hearings and the skinny basic, as we call it.

Could you share your thoughts on that? Is your team thinking of solutions to fix this mess? Actually, many producers and small broadcasters will be squeezed dry.

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

As part of our public consultations on digital platforms, we’re clearly going to try to understand how we can build the new model to support Canadian content in a digital context. We are also trying to figure out how to ease this transition and determine which measures might mitigate the sometimes more negative effects of technological changes.

The rather interesting trend that we see when we look at the figures is that profits in the music world are on the rise.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Allow me to question what you have just said. You will have to explain your train of thought.

The music world is on its knees right now because of the ludicrous royalties it gets from streaming services. Even the famous Pharrell Williams, who has nothing to do with Canadians, received $10,000 of his entire income from the streaming of his song Happy.

I have one last question—

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

I understand your view. The issue of royalties must be examined. Profits are on the rise, but we must find out how they are redistributed afterwards.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Right on.

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

That’s why we want to know the impact of technological changes, especially on our artists, our authors, our musicians and our songwriters.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

I appreciate your intentions. Clearly, I will always be here to remind you of them.

I have one comment this morning. Xavier Dolan will be at the Cannes Festival this year. I’m sure that you were excited about that. It’s very good news that he will be there again this year. I wrote on Facebook this morning that we are proud that a child was able to grow up in a world where cultural content is protected and showcased. He felt he was being stimulated and he felt that he could stand up and speak, which led to this accomplishment.

What can we do to ensure that our children who now look at their parents’ iPads are able to see content that stimulates them?

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

I think that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I'm sorry, Minister, but the time is up.

Mr. Vandal, for seven minutes.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Madam Minister, in my part of the country, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, which was the home of the previous heritage minister, we are all incredibly positive and looking forward to the celebrations of Canada 150.

We all support the change in general direction you have embarked on in key areas. However, I am wondering if you can you give us some examples of the projects that we'll be seeing as this process unfolds.

We are all proud of our francophone heritage all across the country. In the case of Saint-Boniface, I like to say that it is a Franco-Métis heritage.

Let me turn to Madam Minister and those accompanying her.

Could you tell us how the celebrations and projects for the 150th anniversary will reflect our country’s linguistic duality as well as the indigenous and Métis reality, which is very important for Saint-Boniface—Saint-Vital?

Thank you.

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

That is a very good question.

I will turn to the issue of reconciliation with indigenous peoples and the Métis nation.

For us, it goes without saying that we must be able to celebrate the next 150 years in a much more positive way than the past 150 years, particularly in terms of our relations with indigenous people and the Métis nation.

A number of projects did not receive a lot of support from the previous government, which means that this part of history was unfortunately ignored. We decided to reopen discussions with the various organizations that support indigenous peoples and are in charge of cultural mediation to set up projects that will truly reflect the entire country.

I also had the opportunity to talk to various mayors across the country. The mayors from Vancouver and Calgary were very interested in supporting various projects, especially those related to the reconciliation with indigenous peoples.

Linguistic duality is of course a priority. In fact, the major Canada-wide projects contain clauses that require project managers, our clients in fact, to provide services in both languages. We have also supported various projects that celebrate linguistic duality, precisely in order to talk about the history in a positive way and to show the major role minority language communities play across the country.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Madam Minister, in my riding, as I said, which was the previous home to the heritage and culture minister, groups such as Centre Culturel, Le Cercle Molière, Le Musée de Saint-Boniface, La Société historique de Saint-Boniface, were getting pretty demoralized about the lack of forward-looking policy that was evident from the previous political leadership.

Can you tell me how the almost $2 billion in new money in arts and culture, which has recently been announced, will support those local organizations?

I am talking about the francophone organizations in Saint-Boniface—Saint-Vital, which I have just named.

Can you tell me how those local organizations are going to benefit from this new funding?

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

The organizations will benefit in different ways, especially through the Canada Council that will support more organizations in Saint Boniface and Manitoba, in general.

That will ramp up over five years. It's $40 million this year only. That's why there was a great reaction on the part of different organizations throughout the country, including different French and English theatres in the Winnipeg region. They were really happy.

There's also support for CBC/Radio-Canada to ensure that we have more local content, more information regarding what's happening in the arts and culture world, so that people in the regions of Saint Boniface and Winnipeg can really know what's going on in their backyard and in their cities.

That will certainly promote cultural vitality a great deal.

There is also the fact that we will be able to better support the various minority language communities.

In addition, overall, the amount of $1.9 billion is an investment of such a size that it will benefit the entire ecosystem in all the regions and ridings of the country.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Also—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have one minute, Mr. Vandal.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

I would like to make a comment.

Radio-Canada, La Liberté, groups, magazines and newspapers in a minority setting have had their funding slashed over the past 10 years. On behalf of my community, I thank you for your leadership and your commitment to heritage and culture.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Now we'll go to the second round, which is a five minute round. We begin with Mr. Waugh from the Conservatives.