Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 24th, 2020

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

—and the government has continued, as they put it, “the last community”. That's not rural Canada. That is not rural Canada.

[Janet Yale]

Absolutely.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

When I go to—

[Monique Simard]

I'd like to add one more thing.

The report makes it very clear that nowadays, you cannot participate as a citizen of Canada—by that I mean your civic duty, your professional life and everything you do—if you do not have access to a sophisticated communications system. That is clear.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Good, but then we need to quit saying the word “communities”. It has to stop. You need to make sure you don't say it as well.

How does that jive then with your recommendation number four?

[Janet Yale]

The recommendation around the commission?

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Yes.

[Janet Yale]

The size and composition of the CRTC?

[Janet Yale]

We thought a lot about what it takes to have effective collegial decision-making and how we can enhance the collegiality and effectiveness of decision-making at the CRTC. That is embodied in recommendation four.

However, we recognized that in terms of ensuring that the CRTC has a broad perspective on the interests and views and perspectives of Canadians from all different sectors and parts of the country, including accessibility requirements, linguistic diversity and diversity of other types, we recommended the formation of a public interest committee of up to 25 members, which composition would enable the CRTC to have that broader perspective.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Yes.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I got that, but do you know what number four says to me? It says that you've just excluded my part of the country as being able to participate, and I have a real, real problem with that. That's what it says to me. I read that, and I know what you just said, but you just excluded the vast majority of the country when you said that.

[Janet Yale]

Well, it's up to nine commissioners, with broad representation from different parts of the country.

The only change we've made is that they should be required to live in the national capital region for the term of their office, because—

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I understand where you're going with this, but understand—

[Janet Yale]

However, that doesn't exclude people from different parts of the country. It just says that it's very hard for the CRTC with commissioners based in the region to really build relationships of trust and collaboration. It does not exclude people based on their geography.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

You're telling me that I have to move here. You're telling me that I have to move to be part of it. I have to move to the central part of Canada, the national capital region.

I don't accept that. That is exclusionary and discriminates against where I live. You say that I have to move here to be part of this process. If you don't understand where I'm from, you don't understand the flames that statement creates. You have to be very, very careful of how you write things like that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Mr. Shields, we're well over time here. I understand that you're trying to make your point.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Very briefly, would you like to respond to that, Ms. Yale?

[Janet Yale]

There is no question that it's important to ensure a broad geographic representation at the CRTC, through the way that commissioners are chosen, as well as through the public interest committee, where those members would be able to be resident in whatever region they are from. On balance, from the representations we heard and our consultations, we felt that the quality and effectiveness of CRTC decision-making would be enhanced if members were resident in the national capital region.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you for that, Ms. Yale.

I'm always seeking points of clarification, as chair. In this particular case, I may sound incredibly halfwitted by asking this, but what's a pivot?

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

The four largest irrigation districts in the country are in my riding, and pivots are those things that irrigate them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

It's an area within your area and it's collectively known as a pivot.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

It's a pivot. That's the equipment that goes around and irrigates.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

I see what you mean. Okay.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Got you.