You owe me.
Evidence of meeting #83 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 money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #83 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 money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
For two and a half minutes, we go to Mr. Julian of the New Democratic Party.
11:50 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair. We all owe you.
I want to reiterate the importance that the money is being reclaimed in the Laith Marouf case, though I do believe, given that there are members of the Conservative caucus who met with a vile anti-Semitic and Islamophobic neo-Nazi, that it's a bit rich for the Conservatives to give any lessons around anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
That said, I wanted to come to the issue of copyright.
A number of organizations are looking to update the Copyright Act. It is a little unclear who is taking that one and it is a little unclear what the timelines are. Can you update us on this badly needed update to the Copyright Act and how much of it is on your desk and how much is on other ministers' desks?
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
That's a great question, Mr. Julian.
I had the opportunity to be the critic of this same portfolio when I was in opposition for a couple of years, and at that moment we were updating the Copyright Act. There were always discussions between the industry department and Canadian Heritage on the side of the government, and on my side, on the opposition—I'm sure that you have this type of discussion—it was me and Mr. Garneau, who I think was the industry critic at the time. We're both involved. In what percentage, it's hard to say. We have to come to agreements, but it's clear that we have to move and that it's very important.
It's always complicated to move forward on that bill, but it's a priority for us and it's something we want to move forward.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Is this something else we're expecting in the fall? Is it funding for the CBC, online harms, and this? Are all these things...?
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Mr. Julian, we're not even in the second year. It's been a year and a half or something, and we've done a lot. The other stuff is coming, including copyright and online hate.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
It's as soon as possible.
When it only depends on me, it's easier. When it depends on the discussions you have to have with other departments and ministers, you don't control everything. That's why I cannot give you a more precise answer.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Okay. Thank you.
I wrote to you just a few days ago about CACTUS, the Canadian Association of Community Televison Users and Stations, and the funding issue they have around the local journalism initiative. They're experiencing a lot of complications. This is important, as Bill C-18, as you pointed out, is to incite and encourage local journalism.
Do you have an update on responding to the needs of these local organizations that are just trying to put in place local journalism initiatives?
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
There are two things there to support them with Bill C-18. That's hopefully coming soon, depending on what's going on in the Senate. I also mentioned the special fund with $50 million of support.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
That's fine.
We'll now move to five minutes with the Conservatives and Mr. Shields.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister and officials, for being here today.
You made the comment about Meta, and those are the big rich guys. We've talked about the federal government's advertising before. It cost $24 million in 2019-20, and it went to the big rich guys. Then it went up to $51 million, and it headed for $64 million in 2021-22. That's the advertising this government did on international platforms outside of this country. A bit of that is that you gave them money and then wanted to take some back.
However, the media-independent non-daily papers in my region, say they used to get 30% of their revenue from federal government funding. Now they get virtually zero. Why do you favour the big international platforms and send money out of the country when you could be supporting advertising in our own country? It would not be a subsidy, but advertising.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
You're raising a very good point. There are different programs for those papers. They play a fundamental role, Mr. Shields, as you'll agree.
Why do we have Bill C-18? It's because those papers are disappearing. Over 460 media—big and small, in regions and cities or whatever—have disappeared in the last 10 to 15 years.
All of the money is migrating to those big players, and we're trying to come back to a fairer system. The government has no say; we're just putting in place a table in the middle. We're having the tech giants with all of the players, including the small ones like yours, come to the table and negotiate collectively.
Noon
Conservative
Martin Shields Conservative Bow River, AB
It's the funding from the advertising. The advertising dollars are gone. You've decided to give it to the international big rich guys rather than advertise in our own local media. It's gone. You've made a decision as a federal government to advertise with the big rich guys instead of advertising in our non-daily papers. It's gone.
The non-daily papers say, “Put the advertising back where you used to spend your money instead of sending it out of the country to the big rich guys”, the ones that you identified.