Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Now it's my time to wax eloquent and talk about the national campus and community radio fund. These are community broadcasters across the country that provide a great deal of local news and information, but they're not defined in the QCJO definition, the qualified Canadian journalism organization definition. This is an issue we've even had within the tax framework, because these are non-profit stations. They've applied for QCJO status and have been rejected because this is defining broadcasting through the Income Tax Act.
The NDP-12 amendment is simply adding that news media either be defined by the QCJO definition or be “licensed by the Commission under paragraph 9(1)(b) of the Broadcasting Act as a campus station, community station or [indigenous] station as those terms are defined in regulations made under that Act”.
What this would do is simply allow for the non-profit sector to have a place within Bill C-18. You'll recall, Madam Chair, that we've already adopted amendments that apply to both for-profit and non-profit entities.
In terms of news media, we need to support community broadcasters. I think the committee, as a whole, has already indicated that direction in the amendments we've adopted so far.
I'd like to thank national campus and community radio for the work they do right across the country every day. What this would do, without creating a free-for-all, is slightly broaden the categories of entities of news media organizations that could benefit from Bill C-18.
With that, I move NDP-12.