Evidence of meeting #79 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 meta.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Is Meta listed in Canada's lobbyist registry?
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
When a bill is tabled in the House of Commons, it goes to committee for debate, where MPs from all parties meet the stakeholders and organizations affected by the bill so that they can explain their concerns or expectations.
Have you met MPs from various parties In connection with Bill C‑18?
11:55 a.m.
Head of Public Policy, Canada, Meta Platforms Inc.
Yes, we have met with some MPs and some senators to discuss our concerns with Bill C-18, and all of those interactions and engagements are recorded in the lobbyist registry, as required by Canadian law.
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Ms. Curran, what you're saying is very interesting. I never received a request to attend a meeting to discuss Bill C‑18 with Meta representatives. And yet I believe we might have been able to have some very interesting conversations. We could have debated our respective ideas.
Did you have direct discussions with government representatives during the debate surrounding Bill C‑18?
11:55 a.m.
Head of Public Policy, Canada, Meta Platforms Inc.
Look, Mr. Champoux, we would love to meet with you about Bill C-18, and we can certainly rectify that very quickly. We'd love to have a conversation with you about it and about the amendments we've proposed.
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
These discussions should have been held before we voted to send Bill C‑18 to the Senate. It's now being studied by the Senate. We're a bit late for that.
I understand from the way you're nodding that you have indeed met government representatives.
Did they listen to your concerns? Did you get the impression that you had been answered? Tell me a bit about what happened.
11:55 a.m.
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
For the committee meetings, we were almost not invited the first time. I'm therefore very pleased to see that we still have the opportunity to take part. So we're going to plan for that as soon as possible, Mr. Champoux.
As for meetings with government representatives, we did have some. We were told that they were to discuss an aspect of the platform that could not be changed. That put an end to our discussions.
On the other hand, we suggested some changes to this committee and to the Senate committee.
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Okay, we can talk about that again later. I want to return to today's meeting. Like my colleagues, I'm extremely frustrated to see that Mr. Clegg decided not to attend.
Mr. Chan, I believe you were involved in those discussions and that you may have advised that avenue.
11:55 a.m.
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
No, I didn't say that. What I said was that my advice was confidential.
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
You're right, but you were part of the process. All of which is to say that if you felt it was appropriate for Mr. Clegg to be here today, you might have been more forceful about suggesting that. But that's not the point I'm trying to make.
The fact remains that after discussing it, this committee agreed to redo the process, and to offer an invitation to Meta in response to its offer to collaborate, and for Mr. Clegg to agree to come before the committee.
The wording of the motion had been clear since March 20. The way it was framed became public on March 20. You were therefore aware of the title of the study and the wording of this motion.
I'm trying to understand the attitude that would lead the president, Mr. Clegg, to change his mind even though he had more or less promised to appear before the committee and was already aware of the content of the motion under study. I must say that it seems pretty straightforward to me.
11:55 a.m.
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
I understand your question. I'd like to say that Mr. Clegg is a very honourable man.
11:55 a.m.
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
I couldn't tell you what he was thinking, but to me, it wasn't at all clear that the motion of March 20 was related to the invitation we had received. It was an email inviting us to appear for the study of Bill C‑18. We were delighted to…
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
So you weren't aware of the fact that the summons to appear, which had been sent pursuant to the motion voted upon here on March 20, and in connection with which you contacted our clerk and said that you were unhappy about a summons, but that you would willingly agree to cooperate if it were an invitation.
You didn't connect the three.
Noon
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
I don't know about that. As I said, we received an email and all I saw was an invitation to come and discuss Bill C‑18. We are still transparent and would like to work with you.
Noon
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
You're saying that you weren't aware that the letter of invitation was related to the summons sent the previous week further to the motion voted upon at the committee on March 20. You didn't connect the dots on the three events.
Noon
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
For people who are not experts in parliamentary procedure…
Noon
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Clegg is an expert in parliamentary procedure. He's a former British deputy prime minister.
Noon
Global Policy Director, Meta Platforms Inc.
He's our president of global affairs. He leaves to others the task of acknowledging invitations and deciding which of these…
Noon
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Mr. Chan, do you understand that the members of this committee feel justifiably frustrated about Mr. Clegg's absence, and about the explanation you are giving today, to the effect that you didn't make the connection between the invitation and the summons that had been sent the week before? Do you understand why we are irritated?
Noon
Head of Public Policy, Canada, Meta Platforms Inc.
Thank you, Mr. Champoux.
We are frustrated too. We really wanted Mr. Clegg to appear here. He was eager to appear to discuss the online news act, to discuss Bill C-18. We received last-minute notice on Thursday evening last week that the title of this hearing would be changed, and we took that, understandably, as a very significant change to the framing of the hearing, in that that it would not be about Bill C-18 but about a suite of other matters altogether, and on that basis Mr. Clegg decided not to appear.
He was really looking forward to being here and talking about Bill C-18 and the impact of that bill on Canadians and globally.