Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 26th, 2020

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you for that question, Mr. Louis.

The government has undertaken a number of things in the last mandate that we intend to pursue.

The first thing I should talk about is the historic investment in the arts and culture sector. If they're not the most important, proportionally, of all the G7 countries, then those investments in the last mandate were amongst the highest in the sector on a per capita basis. The Canada Council for the Arts and a historic investment in the CBC....

We've launched a number of initiatives or provided increased funding to organizations in the arts and culture sector, and more specifically for music. I think about the additional $20 million over two years that was provided to the Canada music fund.

Some of the elements that we have started doing around our cultural export strategy include the Frankfurt book show that will happen next fall. It's interesting to note that every year Frankfurt invites a country to be the host of the book show in Frankfurt. I was talking to someone, I believe from New Zealand—I think it was the last country to host that book show in Frankfurt—who told me that tourism went up 15% to 17% in New Zealand after they did that. The person I was talking to was clearly making a link between those.

Culture is obviously about more than money, but it's also about that. There's an intrinsic value to our arts and culture, but there is also a very important economic element for our country for getting our shows, music and books exported. We want people to discover them here, obviously. As you were pointing out in your question, in a world that is getting more and more global, it's also important to get our stories seen abroad, should they be in music, theatre or TV.

[Tim Louis, Liberal, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

I appreciate that. That's a good point. I don't know if this is a Canadian thing, but it seems that for artists, having some success abroad actually helps even domestically. It seems all the time you can't make it at home until you make it somewhere else.

My focus has been on music, but I want to ask about the film industry. We have a history of Canadian film and shows. Is there a way of getting the film industry out to the world as well through digital media?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Yes, absolutely.

One of the reasons we have committed to doing this review of the CRTC and to changing some of our laws is so we can continue telling our stories to ourselves and also be able to tell them to others. I, like many of you probably, have a subscription to Netflix, as I have to Ici Tou.tv, which is the Radio-Canada equivalent to Gem for CBC. I'm always amazed that we can have access to Norwegian or South Korean TV series, but I think some of our series are very popular. Kim's Kitchen is one of the most popular TV series in South Korea now. It's a CBC production. To give a French Canadian example, a Quebec artist, a comedian, just sold a series to Netflix, which aired on Radio-Canada, Les pêcheurs, which my kids love. I think it's the first TV series from Canada that has been bought by Netflix. There's a huge potential to get.... We've had 50 co-production agreements in the last little while. It's about getting our stories out there, but also it's about making people here work and benefit from all this work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Minister. I appreciate that.

For clarification, I think it was Kim's Convenience you were....

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Yes, it's Kim's Convenience.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

I just wanted to make sure.

For the record, Netflix also owns Frontier, which was a show that was written, shot and produced in Newfoundland and Labrador. I have to put my own plug in there of course.

Speaking of which, we do have an array of talent around the table between a broadcaster and musicians and athletes. I'm a former TV weatherman myself. I was never an actual meteorologist. I played one on television. Now that that's on the record, my apologies.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I'll never believe you now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Let's move on before it gets worse.

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor for three minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

You could have warned us that this storm was coming, Mr. Chair.

I would like to clarify the end of our discussion just now, when I was talking about the museum issue. Yes, I know that the Department of Canadian Heritage supports museums a lot and I perhaps misspoke when I talked about the Village Québécois d’Antan. I would like to emphasize that people from the department were a huge help to us in our endeavours. However, we were not eligible for accreditation as a museum institution. The criteria to obtain it need revision, we feel. That is what I wanted to clarify.

My colleague was talking to you just now about royalties and the cultural industry, particularly the cultural industry in Quebec. I have had the opportunity to gather a lot of information on this in recent weeks. The entire industry is suffocating. We know that digital platforms that pay inadequate royalties or none at all are a major concern.

In this report on the future of communications in Canada, we talk about the urgency of action on behalf of the cultural industry. This is where the urgency currently lies.

When, specifically, do you believe you will be in a position to put something in place to revise the royalty scheme and require that the Internet giants pay them?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

You are actually bringing up a number of issues. For example, in the last five years, there has been a significant increase in revenue from the sale of online music, particularly in Quebec. The issue, of course, is that the artists, those who make that music, should be entitled to their fair share of that cake and that there should not be a whole lot of intermediaries between the artists and the Spotifys of the world, for example, who are nicely lining their pockets.

Online music sales are really increasing. So a part of the system is working, but another part is not working. That is one of the things that we want to review as we make this change.

As I said to Mr. Boulerice just now, it is my firm intention to introduce a bill by June and, ideally, well before that so that it can be passed before the end of the year.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

I have very little time to debate such complex subjects.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

You could invite me back.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Gladly.

I would like to talk to you once more about media coverage in the regions. One plan has come up, an idea that has been going around and gaining momentum for some time. It is to review the mandate of Télé-Québec so that it can have a newsroom.

Is that a foreseeable option, in your opinion, in order to improve regional coverage in the remote regions of Quebec?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

The Government of Quebec is responsible for Télé-Québec, if I am not mistaken.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Yes, but the decision lies with the CRTC.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

It is still a very good question. You have been able to see that, in my mandate letter, I have been asked to see how Radio-Canada could contribute more significantly to regional media coverage. You probably heard, as I did, the president of CBC/Radio-Canada, Ms. Tait, say that, in her opinion, the future of journalism is local journalism. Radio-Canada has already begun that process. The idea is not to impose our views on Radio-Canada, but to work in collaboration with the broadcaster to see how that objective can be achieved.

Let me tell you about the pilot project that Radio-Canada and the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper are doing in collaboration. In that pilot project, which is a first for Radio-Canada, stories coming from the Winnipeg Free Press are published on Radio-Canada’s website, but only in part. If people want to see the story in full, they have to go to the Winnipeg Free Press site.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

I am a subscriber. It works.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Boulerice, you have the floor for three minutes.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There are a lot of things in your mandate letter, and some of them are very interesting.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

You think so too, eh?

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Yes. However—and this may be because I didn’t read it properly—I saw nothing about the National Film Board, the NFB, which remains a jewel in the crown of Quebec and Canadian filmmaking. The Canada Council for the Arts has seen its funding increase substantially, with a five-year plan. By contrast, NFB’s funding has been practically frozen for a number of years. I would like to know a little about your objectives and intentions with regard to the National Film Board.

Téléfilm is mentioned in your mandate letter.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

You are right. In our election platform, we made a commitment to Téléfilm. The NFB’s budget was increased, but that happened several years ago. Part of the increase was taken up by the move.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Practically all the increase was used to pay for the move. But we want the NFB to make films.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I have met with people from the NFB, and with officials from its union. We are very aware of the situation and, at the moment, I am working very hard for the NFB. Let’s see what that produces in the near future.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I would like to ask a question on another matter.