Evidence of meeting #60 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 chair.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
Shall NDP-31 carry?
(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
It's carried unanimously. There you go, Mr. Julian.
Mr. Bittle, you have the floor on G-9.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Thank you so much, Madam Chair.
This amendment simply ensures that the report done by the independent auditor cannot disclose any commercially sensitive information.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
Is there any discussion?
Shall G-9 carry?
(Amendment agreed to on division [See Minutes of Proceedings])
(Clause 86 as amended agreed to on division)
Mr. Julian, you have the floor on NDP-32.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
This is the last NDP amendment, so I want to take a moment to thank the legislative team and my team. Doris Mah and Shawn Hughes have done an amazing job. I thank the clerk, the legislative clerk, the analysts and you, Madam Chair, for working through what is a very complex bill. It is undoubtedly a better bill after we added all these amendments. I think it's fair to say the bill is substantially improved and we should all be proud of that.
Amendment NDP-32 was suggested by the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University. They do terrific work on issues related to technology and democracy in media. They raised concerns about the Australian model being overly opaque by design. News outlets had no idea what metrics or benchmarks were being used to guide their negotiations.
The bill currently has transparency requirements peppered throughout it. No doubt, there is room for increased transparency. Currently, the online news act requires annual data sharing. In order for news outlets to make more informed decisions in real time, they need aggregated, audited market data released at regular and more frequent intervals, not just annually, as the bill currently prescribes.
What this would do is add the following new clause:
86.1 As soon as feasible after the end of each quarter in each fiscal year, the Commission must publish on its website a quarterly report containing audited data on the Canadian digital news marketplace in an aggregated form, including data on the number of agreements entered into under this Act and the commercial value of those agreements.
This aggregated data, of course, is something that preserves confidentiality, which a number of people have raised as a concern. It provides for the transparency that is so vital in ensuring the success of this bill. We want to regenerate our local journalism. One way to do that is to make sure the market data is available in an aggregated and audited form.
I move NDP-32.
Conservative
Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
There is already an annual report on the marketplace. I think demanding a quarterly report, on top of that, is added bureaucracy, which I don't believe is needed.
I'll be voting against it.
Liberal
Liberal
Liberal
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Chair, I think there's one person arguing for it to be passed on division—
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
—and 10 people arguing for it to be defeated on division, so I'll go with defeated on division.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you, Mr. Julian.
(Amendment negatived on division [See Minutes of Proceedings])
(Clauses 87 to 92 inclusive agreed to on division)
(On clause 93)
On clause 93, we have G-10.
Go ahead, Mr. Bittle.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Thank you so much.
This sets out the sequence for regulation-making. In our discussion with platforms, they've indicated that they wish for certainty on the sequencing on how regulations will be developed and introduced, and this amendment, as I've said, offers clarity around that.
Conservative
Marilyn Gladu Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you, Chair.
To restate my previous view, I don't like it that the Governor in Council, which is actually the Liberal cabinet, gets to go and figure out what they're going to do after the fact, without any parliamentary oversight, so I'll be voting against.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you very much.
Shall G-10 carry?
(Amendment agreed to on division [See Minutes of Proceedings])
(Clause 93 as amended agreed to on division)
Shall the short title carry?