Canadian Heritage Committee on June 18th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, please, Ms. Thomas.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

I'm just being interrupted across the table.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Move your motion.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

The motion that I wish to move is as follows:

Given the amount of outstanding work at this committee, the committee instruct the chair to schedule five meetings between July 8 and September 13 to address reports that consumers may face higher prices after streaming giants are told to invest $200 million in Canadian film, TV and music, and the impact this will have, the minister’s outstanding appearance on anti-racism and other matters deemed relevant by the committee.

The reason I'm moving this motion is that this committee certainly has quite a few things on the docket that are outstanding. There's nothing that precludes us as individuals here at this committee from working over the summer. My suggestion is that we would then take on five meetings from July 8 to September 13.

Let me give some examples. Bill C-11, of course, threatens the choice and reasonable prices that Canadians have with regard to access to streaming. The slowness with which regulations are rolling out from the CRTC does need to be looked into. The impact that those regulations are going to have, not only on Canadians as consumers but also on stakeholders, is really important for this committee to better understand.

In addition to that, we have a motion that was brought forward by Ms. Ashton, asking for the minister to come concerning the anti-racism strategy. It was agreed to at this committee that we would try to do that as soon as possible. That is something that could be done over the summer.

Furthermore, the CBC CEO, Ms. Catherine Tait, was here earlier, about six weeks ago. She stated to us that the board for the CBC would be meeting this month, June, in order to determine the bonuses that would be given to executives. Of course, I think this committee has great interest in knowing what the final decision is concerning those bonuses. That decision, of course, will be made in June, and then they're supposed to be dished out in July. We would have the opportunity to bring her forward as the CEO for the CBC and to ask her questions with regard to that decision-making process, therefore allowing for transparency and accountability concerning the 1.4 billion taxpayer dollars that go towards the CBC every year.

These are just a few of the reasons it would be a good idea for us as a committee to meet over the summer. I am therefore moving this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Is there any discussion on the motion?

Mr. Coteau.

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

Yes. I'd like to move to adjourn debate on the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Shall we vote by simple majority?

Did you wish to speak, Mr. Champoux? There's a motion on the table.

We will call the vote on the motion.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

The motion does not carry, so we shall resume.

We have another five and five—10 more minutes to go on this before we leave.

I will go with, for the Liberals, Michael Coteau, for five minutes, please.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

All right, well, here we go. Thank you, Chair.

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

I have the floor, don't I? It was—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You had the floor when you brought forward your motion to adjourn.

You have five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Chair, on a point of order, I'll just highlight for you that you just ruled that the motion to adjourn “does not carry”—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

—which means that we are continuing to discuss my motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Thomas, you know what I meant. You heard the vote.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

No, I don't, Chair. I'm giving you the opportunity, as a courtesy to you, to clarify—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You heard the vote. The motion to adjourn carries. Thank you.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Coteau.

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

Thank you so much.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

I read the bill, and I read some of the background documents, and it seems pretty simple. It says that we can go out there and consult the Quebec government and other provinces, but you're saying we do that already. Is that correct?

[Scott Shortliffe]

What we're saying is that we're open to anyone participating in our proceedings. We frequently have provinces and territories participating in our proceedings. They are open to all, whether it's a province or an individual.

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

You've read the bill, or least the notes. Is there any difference between what this is asking and what you currently do? Are there any specifics?

[Scott Shortliffe]

I think, again...and I have to be very careful about this. We're not here testifying against the bill.

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

That's not the question, right?

[Scott Shortliffe]

No, but what we are saying is that when you say there is a duty to consult, our concern is that if next year, Parliament, in its wisdom, adds a duty to consult with another group and another group, at a certain point do our proceedings become unworkable? It's a future working issue.

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

I understand the term “duty to consult” from that perspective. I understand that being required is different from consulting.

We know that the French language is probably the fastest-growing language internationally. I think that by 2050 there will be 750 million speakers on the planet. It's growing rapidly. There are 125 million learners around the world as we speak today.

The content is important for Canada, but it also contributes content to the world, so there's an economic piece. Obviously, there's a second-language responsibility as Canadians, as part of who we are as Canadians, but there's an economic piece to it.

All across this country we have pockets outside of Quebec—large pockets, in some cases—of French-speaking Canadians. One of your responsibilities in your mandate is to issue licences to regulate. My question is, over the last five years, how many licences have you issued to French-speaking communities outside of Quebec?