Evidence of meeting #203 for Finance in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was body.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
Okay.
In these other jurisdictions, is there any evidence to suggest that measures to support struggling media in this way somehow compromise a free and independent press?
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Director, Charities, Personal Income Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The concerns have been raised, certainly.
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Director, Charities, Personal Income Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The evidence would suggest that news and journalism organizations take steps to jealously guard their independence from government. They do see their role as being a check on government. As I said, they've put in place measures and they do take steps to ensure their independence.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
4:15 p.m.
Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The panel itself is not in the legislation, as Maude has noted, as they have not been established and the details are still to come.
One thing I would like to clarify is the requirement that is in the legislation, that the organization be designated by a body prescribed for the purposes of the qualified Canadian journalism organization definition that is proposed in subsection 248(1). That is in the legislation and it's not the same body as the advisory panel, but that feature is in. However, the advisory panel is not contained in the legislation, probably because it has not yet been established and probably because the output of its work—while it may inform the decision on who would be designated by this body and it might clarify some points in the proposals—does not feed directly into the legislative regime. The details are to come on that, and that's part of it. Also, the rules as they stand provide a coherent regime for the three journalism measures.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
You mentioned there's going to be another body separate from the panel that will determine which news outlets qualify as qualifying journalism organizations.
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Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
That's correct.
That's in proposed paragraph (b) of the qualified Canadian journalism organization.
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Conservative
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Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
It's prescribed for the purposes of the definition, so it would be in the regulations.
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Conservative
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Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
It would go through the regulatory process.
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Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
I think that would depend on who the members of the organization are, and that hasn't been determined yet.
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Conservative
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Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
That's not been announced yet.
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Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
You're asking us to pass legislation here, and that legislation would define who appoints the members of this body?
4:15 p.m.
Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The definition of qualified Canadian journalism organizations would be in 248(1) of the act. The legislation contains a requirement that such an organization be designated by a body prescribed for the purposes of the definition.
The prescription would be under the normal regulatory process that accompanies a legislative change like this.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
No, that's not what I'm looking for. You said there will be a body that will determine who will be eligible as a qualifying journalism organization. I'm asking again: who will appoint that body?
4:20 p.m.
Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
The decision on what the body would be has not been publicly announced yet, and we don't have any details we can share on that. All we can say is that the regulations would set out which body does the designation, or is responsible for designating organizations for the purpose of the definition.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Sorry, but I'm just finding this one a little hard to believe. There's going to be a body that will determine which news outlet qualifies as a journalism organization. You have before us legislation that effectively allows the creation of that body, but you can't tell us who will appoint the body.
4:20 p.m.
Director General, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
That's not contained in part 1 of this bill. There's nothing in this legislation implementing the advisory panel or a body like that. There's no enacting legislation for that. Rather, there is a requirement that whenever it is decided that a body is to be responsible for designating organizations for the purposes of this measure, that body would have to be prescribed in the income tax regulations.
There's no legislation here actually establishing a body that would do the designation. Rather, there is a requirement that such a body be designated by the regulations. It could be a separate administrative body established by a separate statute, or it could be something else.
4:20 p.m.
Conservative
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
So it doesn't create the body, but it requires the creation of the body?
