Madam Chair and committee members, thank you for inviting us to discuss Bill C‑11 with you.
My name is Tulsa Valin‑Landry, and I am the vice‑president of CUPE‑Quebec's Communications Sector, which represents close to 6,700 broadcasting workers in Quebec. With me today is my colleague Nathalie Blais, who is the representative for CUPE's research service.
The members we represent work in all types of broadcasting companies, whether in distribution, radio, local specialty or community television, or on the Internet. They actively participate in our democratic life by producing local, regional, national and international news, and contribute to the production of entertainment programs, just like independent producers. This is a particular feature of Quebec that we would like to draw your attention to.
Bill C‑11 is very important to us. Since 2014, we have made multiple interventions, either alone or in a coalition, calling on the government to establish legislative and regulatory fairness between traditional broadcasting undertakings and online businesses operating in Canada, like Netflix or Spotify. The impact these foreign companies have had on our industry has been staggering. In just a few short years, television stations considered cultural flagships have gone into deficit, putting jobs, information and Canadian programming at risk.
The purpose of Bill C‑11 is to improve the competitive position of our broadcasters so that they can continue to produce and present programs that are relevant to us, while providing the high‑quality, well‑paying jobs that the Canadian economy needs. By integrating web giants into the Canadian broadcasting system and regulating them, the bill will put Canadian companies on an equal footing with their foreign competitors. It will also protect our cultural and economic sovereignty.
We need new legislation quickly to allow broadcasters to regain their profitability and to protect jobs. However, in its current form, Bill C‑11 contains too many uncertainties. Amendments are essential to strengthen this bill so that future provisions proposed in the Online Streaming Act are not challenged in court as soon as they are implemented. This would have a negative impact on workers, on Canadian broadcasting companies and on the cultural sector. We therefore propose some fundamental amendments to clarify the scope of the bill and ensure the success of the resulting regulations.
First of all, let's be clear that the purpose of Bill C‑11 is not to regulate the entire Internet, as some witnesses have said. This is not true. In fact, the bill applies to online businesses operating in whole or in part in Canada, under subsection 4(2) of the Broadcasting Act, which remains unchanged by Bill C‑11. The feedback we have heard so far suggests that the intent of Parliament needs to be more clearly expressed in the bill to avoid any ambiguity.
I'll pass things over to my colleague Nathalie Blais.