Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
It is my pleasure to appear this afternoon to discuss the importance of the online streaming act.
My name is Margaret McGuffin. I am CEO of Music Publishers Canada, which is a membership-based organization largely made up of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises representing all regions of the country, as well as large international companies with offices in Canada.
Music publishers invest in thousands of Canadian songwriters and make significant investments into the songs and scores that are heard every day on the radio, on television, on streaming services, in video games, in film and television productions and on new emerging platforms around the world. Seventy-nine per cent of the revenues of my members flow to Canada from foreign sources. We know the importance of the global market.
Bill C-11 is a long-awaited and much-needed update to the Broadcasting Act. We welcome the legislation's goal of bringing online broadcasting under the act, particularly for ensuring that streaming services help Canadians find Canadian songs and stories on platforms operating in Canada.
As technology has evolved, so has the way Canadians consume content. Our members and the songwriters they work with have embraced these changes and are actively engaged on these new platforms, both in licensing the content and in creating new digital content. Music publishers and songwriters are digital creators.
However, digital streaming services have been in Canada for almost a decade without fully supporting Canadian music. These platforms are keen to capitalize on Canadian talent without fully supporting the environment that helps the industry grow. It is critical that this uneven playing field changes now.
Over the last few years, we have challenged the digital platforms to work with us to find ways to harness their technology to help Canadians promote Canadian songs and stories and we will continue to do so. Most of the time these days, though, I hear about what the tech platforms can't do, not what they can do.
Clearly, the CRTC needs the ability to regulate when necessary to further Canada's broadcasting policy. Bill C-11 does just that. It provides an important balance by giving the commission the tools it needs to regulate when market forces fail. Modernizing the Broadcasting Act will ensure that, as technology evolves and online platforms continue to grow, Canadian creative industries, including music publishers, songwriters and composers, will also continue to thrive.
Without this modernization of the Broadcasting Act, Canada will see parts of our creative industry suffer. We risk an entire generation of new young storytellers and emerging businesses losing opportunities to develop, grow and benefit from their talents. Their songs may never be discovered or promoted in their own country.
As you've heard earlier in these meetings, this is especially dangerous for songwriters, composers and music publishers whose work represents and gives voice to our indigenous and French-language cultures. The online streaming act will undoubtedly support Canadian creators and the businesses that invest in them by creating jobs and ensuring that our stories can be found and heard in English, French and indigenous languages.
Let me close by saying that, contrary to what you've heard earlier, the proposed amendments will not disadvantage digital creators from exploring new opportunities on new digital platforms or limit freedom of expression, nor will Bill C-11 break the Internet or ruin the user experience. Those working in the creative industry ecosystem are some of the biggest proponents of freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. Bill C-11 addresses a distribution issue. It does not create a freedom of expression issue.
Why are we seeing these scare tactics from globally dominated tech companies? The bottom line is that they have made a healthy fortune by benefiting from the Canadian system and not contributing to it. It is time for that to end.
I would encourage you all to think critically about the arguments made by the tech companies that extract revenue without the corresponding investment. It is our opinion that Bill C-11 will be a much-needed modernization of the Broadcasting Act to address the very real inequalities that have resulted from an increasingly digitized world.
Thank you. I am happy to answer any questions.