Evidence of meeting #122 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was music.
A recording is available from Parliament.
June 12th, 2018 / 4:55 p.m.
Liberal
David Lametti Liberal LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC
Yes, I want to get this in.
I still buy vinyl. I have all the way through.
Whether it's a fund or tariff, how do we ensure that artists are primarily benefiting from it? I'm old enough to remember that the Canadian Private Copying Collective was criticized for not distributing any money at all for a number of years and then finally got to it. How do we ensure it? Are we going to track streaming? Are we going to—
4:55 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Music Canada
Part of the answer is that the performer groups, the label groups, and the music publishers have all come together on this. There's no issue among us. We're confident that money will be divided appropriately. It has been to date—nobody's unhappy about it—and it will continue to be. In fact, as far as the major labels go, it will be a very small share that would accrue to them.
I think you have to listen to us. If we're all coming and saying that this will work, that it will get to performers and songwriters, and that it will get to the people it needs to get to, then that's pretty good.
4:55 p.m.
Director, Performers' Rights Society and Recording Artists' Collecting Society, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA)
As a performers' group, we've been very pleased with the CPCC, the process, the operations, and how the pot is divided.
4:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Dan Ruimy
Thank you.
We're going to move to Mr. Masse, and then we'll have a lightning-quick round after that.
Mr. Masse, you have a couple of minutes.
5 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Really quickly, across the board, one thing is the time frame. We're just doing a review. It's going to go to the minister. The minister is then going to respond to the review. Then, if there are legislative changes, those will require further committee work, unless the minister acts unilaterally, which is very, very rare. At any rate, in the meantime, we'll be looking at what goes through the regulatory process and what goes through the legislative process. We're going to be looking at that.
Really quickly, what is your opinion on the Copyright Board, and is there work on the Copyright Board that can be done now to help the organizations you represent? Maybe I'll start with ACTRA and go across.
5 p.m.
Director, Public Policy and Communications, National, Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA)
We put in a submission to the Copyright Board review. We'd been hoping that things will move quickly. I could share the submission, but in essence, yes, I do think there's a lot that can be done in terms of moving to more mediation, setting clear deadlines, and being clearer on definitions. There seems to be a lot of low-hanging fruit there, and I'm hoping we'll see that process move along quickly.
5 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Music Canada
Minister Bains has been very engaged on this. There was a Senate hearing. The bureaucrats, everybody...this is one of those unique situations where nobody is throwing bricks through anybody's window. Everybody agrees that it's dated, dysfunctional, and needs to be fixed. Those were the words of the Senate.
My understanding is that Minister Bains is moving forward. We would hope—
5 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
I'm not looking for the minister's opinion. I can get that any day in question period.
5 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Music Canada
Well, that's my opinion.
I think that if he does what Elliott said, it will be great.
5 p.m.
First Director, Public Interests Research and Communications Inc., Border Broadcasters, Inc.
I think that the Copyright Board is limited by the policies that it implements. The reality is that the mismeasurement of viewing of U.S. services in Canada has led to the unfair treatment of U.S. stations in Canada. The gaming of the system that has allowed different property owners to benefit while U.S. station owners have lost out is something that has to be dealt with at the macro level.
That's why I was interested in—
5 p.m.
First Director, Public Interests Research and Communications Inc., Border Broadcasters, Inc.
I reaffirm that it's outdated, but it has to be addressed in the context of a larger policy.
5 p.m.
President, Audio Cine Films Inc.
I would agree with the gentlemen. It's somewhat outdated. The information on us is outdated on there. We're listed, but it takes years and years to—
5 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
I appreciate that. We're looking at some controllables here. That's what we're looking to get.
5 p.m.
Liberal
5 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Yes, it would be all around the bases. I'm going to send it over to Frank and—
5 p.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Henderson, when we talk about the $1.25 million, at the time the market was set up, we had a lot of small players in the market, and then we had some big players purchase those, so now $1.25 million.... If one of the larger players owns 100 of those small players, do they get $100 million?
