Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 23rd, 2023

[Vicky Eatrides]

If there is time to respond to that, perhaps I could explain what that decision did. It was to ask large platforms to provide basic information, like contact information with respect to their services, and that would include podcasts. That is the extent of it. I wouldn't say that we are regulating, in that sense.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Why are you asking for registration?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mrs. Thomas, I'm sorry, but your time is up.

Oh, I'm sorry. You have one minute left. I didn't see the one there.

[An hon. member]

We're over six minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Okay. I think you've gone over the time. I'm sorry. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the stopwatch.

Now I will go to Ms. Hepfner for the Liberals.

I'm sorry, guys. I'm in a like 14-hour jet lag, and I'm kind of a little bit...whatever.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

You're going to give me those 10 seconds back. Is that right?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes, Lisa, I'll give you the 10 seconds back—absolutely.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Ms. Eatrides.

Thank you, all, for being with us today.

I would like to give you an opportunity to respond more fulsomely to the previous question. What does it mean that the CRTC is an independent quasi-judicial body?

[Vicky Eatrides]

Thank you for the question.

We operate as a quasi-judicial tribunal, which is like a court. We are independent. All of our decisions are based on the public record. We hold public proceedings, and our decisions are made by basing them on the public interest and what is put before us.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

If the CRTC came up with a really well-phrased myths and facts page on new legislation, does it seem reasonable that a minister would maybe use those same lines that came from the CRTC?

[Vicky Eatrides]

It would be hard for me to speculate as to whether that was used.

I would say—and this comes down to our third priority, which I touched on, which is to better serve Canadians—that putting forward the myths and facts page was one way that we wanted to be more transparent and give more certainty to Canadians.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Thank you.

I'd like to go back now to what I was originally going to ask you, which is about your taking on this role quite recently. You have a background in law, in teaching law and with the Competition Bureau. I'm wondering if you can tell us what those experiences bring to this role.

[Vicky Eatrides]

Thank you for that.

Before taking on this role at the CRTC earlier this year, I spent over 23 years in the private and public sectors, mainly in the area of regulatory law. Obviously, I had the chance to work in the area of telecommunications and digital technologies in my 12 years at the Competition Bureau in senior roles.

I actually started my career appearing before tribunals like the CRTC, such as the Copyright Board and the Competition Tribunal. The various leadership positions that I've had over the past many years within the public service have set me up nicely to work at the CRTC, among an incredible expert group of staff and expert commissioners.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Do you think Canadians understand the role of the CRTC? If not, how would you explain it to them?

[Vicky Eatrides]

I think we can do better. When people mention the CRTC, what we often hear—I'm sure that committee members hear this as well—is that people pay too much for their cellphone bills. That's the kind of thing we hear about often.

I think there's an opportunity to do better. I would come back to what our mandate is, which is really to regulate the broadcasting and telecommunications industries. We've put forward areas of focus, because the volume is huge. As everybody here knows, the volume is huge, and we don't want a D grade on everything. We'd like to focus on the areas that have the most importance and the highest impact. That's making sure that we have competition on the telecommunications side. That's for Internet and cellphone services. It's making sure that we reach out to indigenous, rural and remote communities, making sure that broadband is rolling out there. On the broadcasting side, it's ensuring that we have a modern framework, which is what we are right in the middle of in the hearing that's going on right now.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

How important do you think it is that we have a modern framework for the Broadcasting Act?

[Vicky Eatrides]

It's critical. Again, as I said, we're on day four today of a three-week public hearing. We've heard from a wide variety of stakeholders over the past few days. We've heard from traditional broadcasters that have said they are shackled by regulations and they're having a very difficult time competing. We've heard from creators who say they need more money in the system. We've heard from online services and global online services that say they already make huge contributions.

We've heard from a lot of stakeholders so far. That will continue over the next two and a half weeks, but certainly, we've heard that there is a need to make some changes.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

How much power does the CRTC really have to regulate Internet giants that are based in other countries?

[Vicky Eatrides]

The Online Streaming Act gives us the mandate to do that. We will take the mandate that has been given to us by Parliament and we will implement it.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Have you found, since your appointment, that your goals or priorities have changed at all? Has anything taken you by surprise since you took on this role?

[Vicky Eatrides]

What has taken me by surprise is the volume of work. There's a lot. Coming in, I saw that we had over 400 decisions, notices and orders that go out every single year—that's our bread and butter, if I can put it that way—and then we have very big issues, like how we fix cellphone and Internet competition and modernize the Broadcasting Act at the same time.

That's why we've focused on priority areas.

[Lisa Hepfner, Liberal, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Would you say you need more people or more resources in order to more adequately fulfill your mandate?

[Vicky Eatrides]

The answer to that is always yes, but what I would say is that we are well prepared to do the work that we need to do right now. To the extent that we need more resources, I will ask for them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

Now I go to the Bloc Québécois and Martin Champoux.

You have six minutes, Martin.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I also thank the three witnesses for being here.

This meeting was much anticipated. It is our pleasure to have you with us and listen to your answers. We have a lot of concerns, particularly as regards the revision of the Broadcasting Act, Bill C‑11, on which we worked very hard and for which we overcame a number of challenges.

Ms. Eatrides, in your opening statement, you said you had received 600 briefs, requests and submissions from various groups everywhere in Canada. You also said that you had heard from roughly 20 intervenors so far. That concerns me, because this is really a very daunting task.

Do you think you will be able to complete this mission in time to be able to quickly breathe life into culture, the broadcasting sector and our producers? Do you think the job is too big for the resources you have?