Thank you, MP Thomas.
Good afternoon, Chair.
What I would draw the committee's attention to is the definition of “news content” at clause 2 of the bill, which is:
news content means content — in any format, including an audio or audiovisual format — that reports on, investigates or explains current issues or events of public interest.
The idea of “public interest news”, from the government's perspective, was already included in the concept of “news content” and would include things like covering democratic institutions, courthouses, legislatures and Parliament. The government's view would be that the impact of the proposed amendment is minimal because the concept of public interest is already in fact included in the definition of “news content”.