Evidence of meeting #18 for Canadian Heritage in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was crtc.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Yes, but I'm talking about players who were already included in the current regulations.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
The CRTC hasn't really been able to protect these players in some ways. That's why it's important to direct the decisions that the CRTC will make a little bit better. Wouldn't you agree?
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
We must be careful; the legislator cannot act on behalf of the regulator, just as the regulator cannot take the place of the legislator. In our ecosystem, we all have functions and roles to play. One of the innovations in Bill C-10 is to increase the ability of the government to give direction to the CRTC. It is possible to do so now, but it is not easy. With this amendment, we are giving ourselves more flexibility.
Imagine what would happen if the legislator, in this case the committee that meets for a few hours a week, tried to hold public hearings to define regulatory elements. It would never happen. France, Britain and Australia have a regulatory body that enforces their broadcasting legislation. I don't know of any country that operates differently. I don't think we invented the model. If anything, we may have been among the first to use it, a long time ago.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Thank you, Mr. Champoux.
Ms. McPherson, you have two and a half minutes.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, again, to the minister.
I appreciate your willingness to look at amendments. It's very important to move this bill forward. We have a number of amendments that we will continue to share with you.
We need to take advantage of the opportunity to have the minister with us. I am going to ask you a question I've already posed previously, because I want to hear from you directly.
When Bill C-10 was put in place, it had been designed to explicitly exempt Facebook and YouTube from user-generated content from the Broadcasting Act. Did you instruct the department to put this into the bill or was it the department's idea?
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Facebook and Google are not exempt from—I think Mr. Ripley, Mr. Piché and I have answered that question—the law or the regulation. When they act as broadcasters, then the regulation will apply to them.
As I said earlier in a response to a question asked by Mr. Waugh, as a legislator, I'm not particularly interested when my step-uncle posts pictures of his cats on YouTube or Facebook. This is why we've excluded user-generated content from the regulation. When they act as broadcasters, then the regulation will apply to them.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
One of my concerns is that we are in a potential election situation. Bill C-10 may be one of the only bills that is passed in this Parliament. How are we going to make sure that problematic content....You talk about bringing forward other legislation, but we may not have that opportunity. The Broadcasting Act deals with political advertising. It deals with Canadian content financing, emergency alerts....
Why are Facebook and YouTube exempt from those standards?
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
As I said, Bill C-10 does not exclude Facebook and YouTube. This is a false assumption that you're making. They're simply not....
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
It does for the material that I speak about. It does for some of these things that they can be.... We don't have legislation coming forward where you're going to hold Facebook and YouTube to account for the online hate that they share.
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
Well, that's an upcoming bill.
I mean, this is not—
Liberal
Steven Guilbeault Liberal Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC
—a bill about everything under the sun. I'm sorry, we just couldn't do that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
I apologize, as well, because I have to end it right there.
Thank you so much to our guests. Mr. Guilbeault, nice to see you again, and thank you very much for spending this time with us. To the people who are with you, Ms. Laurendeau, our deputy minister; Mr. Piché; and Mr. Ripley, thank you very much.
Folks, I'll disengage from that part of our witness testimony, because we have to deal with a bit of committee business.
We're coming to the end of our meeting. I'm sure you've all had an opportunity to look at the subcommittee report. I would like to take the time now to adopt it. There are seven points within that report. Are there any questions about this before we make a decision? We have to adopt this, by the way, in order for the committee work to continue.
Seeing no objections, I see a plethora of thumbs up. That's great.
Thank you so much, everyone. Sorry for the informal way of conducting a vote, but such is virtual reality. Nevertheless, the subcommittee report has been adopted.
We will see you this coming Friday, March 12. If you recall, we will be reinviting guests who were not able to provide testimony a few weeks ago.
The meeting is adjourned.