Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 28th, 2022

Evidence of meeting #50 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was facebook.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Bill C-18

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Konrad von Finckenstein Former Chair, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, As an Individual

Kevin Chan Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.

Matthew Hatfield Campaigns Director, OpenMedia

Annick Charette President, Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture

Marc Dinsdale Head, Media Partnerships, Canada, Meta Platforms Inc.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON

Excuse me, Mr. Dinsdale. You came here to threaten the people of Canada, and I'm asking if you're planning to do the same thing to the people of the United States. Or is it just that it's an American company so the American government is not going to get threatened, just the Canadian and Australian governments?

2:50 p.m.

Head, Media Partnerships, Canada, Meta Platforms Inc.

Marc Dinsdale

Again, sir, I think we're here to try to share our point of view on Canadian legislation and the misrepresentation it has of the value exchange between publishers and platforms, and the challenge that we have with paying to then have the right to provide free marketing to publishers. It's about the concerns, which are expressed by independent publishers, about how this legislation could potentially stifle innovation.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

You have 10 seconds left, Chris. Would you like to do anything in those 10 seconds?

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON

No, thank you, Madam Chair.

2:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Thank you very much.

We have a hard stop today at 3 p.m.

I wanted to say as a chair observing and listening to what was going on that I have heard repeatedly people asking about journalism. I think when we did a study back in 2017 of the very issue, I chaired the heritage committee then. What was very clear was that so-called news companies in Canada have very different rules that they must follow. Their news must be verifiable, and it must be careful not to call names or issue threats, so it has certain things it must do under the Criminal Code.

I think there is a great concern here about whether this applies to companies like Google, Facebook or Meta in terms of their own ability. We live in an age of disinformation. Do they have the same international constraints on being verifiable and accountable to the people in printing news? That's a question I wanted to ask.

2:55 p.m.

Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.

Kevin Chan

Madam Chair, did you want me to answer?

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Yes, please answer very quickly.

2:55 p.m.

Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.

Kevin Chan

Sure. I think the challenge, and perhaps it gets to the heart of Bill C-18, is that what we're talking about when we talk about what's on these platforms and on the Internet is people's speech. People's speech is subject to different considerations, I dare say, than what an editor decides should be in a newspaper.

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Thank you very much.

I think we now have three more minutes to go. I will entertain a motion for adjourning this meeting.

I want to thank the witnesses for coming. I know it's been heated and hot in some instances, but thank you for coming. We appreciate you sharing.

2:55 p.m.

Conservative

Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON

I move to adjourn.

2:55 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry

Thank you, Ms. Gladu.

The meeting is now adjourned.