Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to express my support for Bill C-55, an act respecting advertising services supplied by foreign periodical publishers.
I will be sharing my time with the member for Parkdale—High Park.
Revenues from the sale of advertising services are part of the economic fabric and the very foundation of the Canadian periodical industry. They play a pivotal role in supporting and guaranteeing the survival of the Canadian periodical industry, and of its Canadian content.
They are also one of the primary means of ensuring the vitality and viability of this Canadian cultural resource.
In the 1950s less than a quarter of all magazines circulating in Canada were produced by Canadian publishers. Today that number is nearly three-quarters.
A provider of over 6,000 Canadian jobs and more than $194 million in salaries, wages and fees, the Canadian periodical industry is comprised of over 1,000 small and medium sized companies.
The bill will help make Canadian advertising revenues accessible to more Canadian publishers, a group which includes a growing number of young Canadians, all of them creative and talented.
The Canadian periodical industry is an important vehicle for Canadians' ideas, values, dreams, and pride.
Without continued access to revenues from the sale of advertising services, this success could be seriously eroded. Low incremental costs would allow foreign publishers to sell advertising services directed at the Canadian market at discount rates.
Foreign publishers simply do not incur the costs of Canadian publishers because foreign publishers do not invest in producing content for the Canadian market. Foreign publishers do not hire Canadian writers, engage Canadian photographers or other Canadian creative talents.
As members of parliament and as Canadians, we have the duty to ensure that our children and grandchildren see, hear, read and discover the stories of their country.
The bill before the House today meets a pivotal challenge in our pursuit of that important promise. The foreign publishers advertising services act establishes a fair and effective framework for the distribution of advertising dollars in the Canadian markets. It will ensure that Canadian publishers continue to have access to the advertising revenues they need to thrive. It will guarantee that only Canadian publishers will be able to sell advertising services aimed at Canadians. It will put in place tough penalties for foreign publishers who attempt to go against the regulations flowing from this proposed legislation.
Today, in Canada, general interest periodicals bring in only about 7% of the total advertising revenues available in the Canadian market, the lowest share of all advertising revenues of the various media. This situation is due in part to the presence of foreign periodicals in Canada and to the fact that Canadian advertising goes to foreign periodicals.>
If foreign periodical publishers were given unlimited access to the Canadian market, Canadian content periodicals would become considerably less visible.
Clearly we need to put in place advertising measures that will give our periodicals a fair shake. Clearly we must do what we can to enable our Canadian storytellers to tell our Canadian stories. Clearly we must see to it that Canadian readers have the greatest access possible to those stories.
As the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage have stated time and again, Canadians must be able to see themselves in the stories we read and in the stories we share with the world.
That said, Canada intends to play by the rules. So, the measure proposed is in keeping with our commitments to international trade. Canada is a bridge builder. Our commercial and economic markets are among the world's most liberalized.
Through this legislation Canada is upholding these roles and responsibilities to the fullest. In no way will this bill affect the importation of foreign magazines into Canada. In no way will this bill impede the access of foreign magazines to the Canadian market. In no way will this bill target current advertising operations of foreign publishers already in the Canadian market.
Word for word, the foreign publishers advertising services act is consistent with all of Canada's international advertising service obligations under the general agreement on trade and services.
We are reconciling align Canada's cultural objectives and its trade objectives. We are reconciling our roles as citizens of Canada and of the world.
Canadians want to read more than just the articles appearing in Maclean's , L'Actualité and Châtelaine , and they also want greater access to more periodicals such as Garden West and Safarir .
It will help maintain a level playing field in Canada to preserve a prominent place for Canadians to see their own reflection.
Canada's periodical industry was built by creative and talented individual Canadians and it has been driven to success by the powerful collective will of our nation.
The foreign publishers advertising services act honours that strength and that drive. It pays homage to past successes and draws strength from that force of will. The foreign publishers advertising services act will guarantee a prominent and sustained place for the ideas, dreams and vision of our Canadian children and grandchildren.
Therefore I move:
That the question be now put.