Canadian Heritage Committee on June 6th, 2024

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Yes, it's on the motion.

Maybe we should just add in the motion the piece saying that the final game is going to be broadcast on the CBC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Do you have an amendment? Can you please tell us your amendment?

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

It is that the final games are going to be broadcast on the CBC.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Where do you wish that to go? Can you work that in as part of the language?

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

It can go anywhere. It doesn't matter.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

No, you have to tell us where.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

At the very end, I would just like a little star and it to say that the game will be played on the CBC...or that the finals will be seen on the CBC. How about that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We have an amendment.

For discussion of the amendment, go ahead, Mr. Waugh.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

How do we know that?

Ms. Tait stood in this room and talked glowingly about CBC and Hockey Night in Canada, yet for game six involving the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Stars, they decided to not televise it.

There would have been a riot, Madam Chair, if they had done this with the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens. They had no business not showing game six. They claimed they had a commitment earlier. This has never happened in CBC. Then all of a sudden, because it was the Edmonton Oilers, a Western-based team—I might say their six o'clock newscast is disastrous, CBC in Edmonton and Calgary—they saw fittingly not to show game six of Edmonton and Dallas.

I don't have any confidence in the CBC to show any of these games until I actually turn on the TV and see CBC televising them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Waugh.

Mr. Noormohamed, go ahead on the amendment.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

I find it deeply.... I don't even know what the word is to discuss this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

On the amendment, please....

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

While I appreciate Mr. Coteau's amendment, I remain of the view that as politicians we should not be telling the CBC what to broadcast. Mr. Coteau has rightly pointed out through this amendment...to address the misinformation that the CBC is not going to be broadcasting these games, which in fact they are.

I think it leads to a bigger question of whether we are directing the public broadcaster as to what to broadcast and what not to broadcast. I think that's—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We're sticking to the amendment right now, not the main motion.

Sébastien, do you have something to say on the amendment?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Yes. I'd like to address a number of factors.

First of all, the traditional format for hockey playoffs is four out of seven. When we talk about the final game, are we referring to the seventh, the fourth or the fifth? I can't say which it's going to be.

Not only that, but there's the matter of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in the motion. When I was young, I remember watching the Canadiens and even Nordiques games on the CBC. Unfortunately, for over 20 years now, a lot of games are no longer broadcast.

I understand it's because Rogers and TVA Sports paid a lot of money for the rights. That's why the Bloc Québécois will not support the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Is there any further discussion on the amendment?

There is no discussion on the amendment.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Can we hear the amendment one more time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Yes. This is what we're discussing. Until we vote on the amendment, we are dealing with the amendment.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

I asked if I could hear the amendment one more time before we vote on it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You asked if what...?

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Can we hear the amendment before we vote on it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

The amendment is very simple. You said that, at the end of the motion, you added that the CBC will be broadcasting the final games.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Okay. That's great.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

That's the amendment.

Now, before I call the question on the amendment, I just want to make sure that we know we're voting on the amendment, and I just want to add something. This could have been the Canucks, you know, guys, if they hadn't dragged their feet.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!