Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to hear the Heritage Canada critic say we are against Bill C-216, because it certainly is a very bad bill.
This bill is more or less like the proverbial sledgehammer. It is an attempt to camouflage a problem that may clear up by itself. Of course, it is all because of a rather notorious case in Vancouver, where the Rogers company found a way to make subscribers opt for channels they had already paid for by using the negative billing option.
In fact, this caused such an uproar that the cable companies were smart enough to realize that this was perhaps not the way to treat their customers. There was such an uproar in Vancouver, and even in Toronto and across the rest of English Canada, that the cable companies will watch their step from now on.
And not only because of that but also because the government will probably introduce a bill on competition in the cable industry. And we can expect satellite cable or satellite television to put even more pressure on the cable companies.
This is just to say that the problem does exist to some extent and that one company, a major one, took undue advantage of the situation. However, it is not unlikely the problem will solve itself, without the government having to go to the extreme of using a sledgehammer.
In fact, there are several reasons why we should object to this bill. First of all, it infringes on provincial jurisdiction over business relations. It is common knowledge that in Quebec, for instance, legislation has already been passed and agreements in this area already exist with companies in Quebec.
This is already a bad bill because it interferes in areas of provincial jurisdiction. Without going into details, as it could get boring, from the wording and tabling of the bill it is clear that the hon. member does not know anything about the cable television industry as the bill is totally inconsistent with the way this industry operates. This is why the industry itself is opposed to it.
But the main raison why we in the Bloc oppose this bill is that it prevents new specialty and other channels from being introduced without the prior approval of a majority of area subscribers. In other words, every time a cable distributor wants to offer a new channel to its subscribers, it must first get the approval of the majority.
Of course, as the former Minister of Canadian Heritage knows, this is almost impossible in practice and, worse yet, it puts all French-language channels in Canada at a disadvantage once again.
This bill will surely impede the development of the French-language television industry in Canada. For example, if this bill were now in force, chances are that TVA would not even be available in Hull.
In any case, it has been proven that RDI, a specialty channel I love, which keeps viewers up to date on Canadian and foreign politics, is available to only 40 per cent of French-speaking Canadians. Only 40 per cent of Canadian francophones have access to RDI. Yet, despite all the government promises that this channel would be made available to all francophones in Manitoba and elsewhere, such is not the case.
This bill would rob francophones outside Quebec of any hope of ever getting access to RDI or other French-language channels.
This bill has several problems, but the main one is that it shows a poor understanding of Canada and does not respect the current reality by advocating the principle that, even in the cable television industry, the majority of subscribers must approve the channels or services provided to the minority.
Again, this is significant. It shows the great difference between English Canada and Quebec. At least, this is another example of misunderstanding and the fact they forget that there is not only a French-speaking province-Quebec-, but also other francophone communities throughout Canada. It is as though they did not even exist.
Furthermore, Quebec has already passed a bill in this regard. The Government of Quebec has already struck an agreement. It is unfortunate therefore that this bill is even being considered. We are wasting our time, although I am happy to see that the hon. critic on Canadian heritage opposes this bill. I hope that the hon. member
for Ottawa-Vanier will do the same since, as a Franco-Ontarian himself, he has suggested that this bill be amended, although his amendment would not send the bill to the trash can, which is where it should go.