Change is needed to correct this market imbalance. The bill should ensure that the CRTC is empowered to require and enforce collective terms of trade between these buyers and independent Canadian producers. Terms of trade would provide a code of baseline conditions to be used in good faith negotiations between the parties when licensing a program.
This is not a novel solution. In 2003, the U.K. adopted terms of trade in its own Communications Act. Less than a decade later, the value of the U.K. independent production sector had almost tripled. In fact, this tool has been so successful that the U.K. government recently announced that it would maintain and modernize terms of trade. Given its success not only in the U.K. but also in France and Germany, we are confident that the adoption of a terms of trade amendment in Bill C-11 would result in similar success here in Canada.
Our third and final amendment would be to close a legislative loophole that generally excludes telecom service providers from the application of the Broadcasting Act. This exclusion no longer makes sense at a time when ISP and wireless services are playing an ever greater role in our broadcasting system.
Today Canadians watch content through their phones, tablets, laptops, and yes, also in their living rooms on TVs but those televisions increasingly stream programs over the Internet. The CRTC should have the ability to determine whether and how telecom providers could contribute to the creation of Canadian programming and the policy directions should instruct the CRTC to do this in a way that protects consumers and upholds the principle that those who benefit from our system should contribute to it.
In closing, we applaud the government for the introduction of Bill C-11 and look forward to responding to any questions you may have.