Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the House on Motion 423 which was introduced by my colleague representing the riding of Waterloo—Wellington. The motion calls for a debate to express the concerns of the member's constituents, colleagues and Canadians on the concentration of print media in Canada. I would also thank my colleague for the research and effort that was put into his motion.
As members of this House are aware, the print media marketplace in Canada has been undergoing significant changes in recent years with several newspapers changing ownership. One recent example is Southam Inc.'s acquisition of the Financial Post from Sun Media Corporation in return for four southern Ontario dailies, including the Kitchener—Waterloo Record circulated in my colleague's riding of Waterloo—Wellington. The most recent concerns the announcement of a possible takeover of Sun Media by Torstar.
As I understand it, some people perceive that newspaper mergers can be detrimental to Canada for two reasons. First, there is a fear that increasing ownership concentration may leave Canadians with reduced access to both ideas and sources of information. Second, there are concerns that newspaper conglomerates might be able to conduct business in an anti-competitive manner with their subscribers, advertisers or journalists. I will address the anti-competitive business behaviour point first as it clearly relates to something that falls within the purview of the industry department.
The Competition Bureau headed by the director of investigation and research is an independent law enforcement agency of Industry Canada with responsibility for enforcing the Competition Act. This act is a law of general application. It applies with few exceptions to all sectors of the Canadian economy, including newspapers, magazines and other print media. The law touches on the everyday life of all Canadians by seeking to maintain and encourage competition in the marketplace with the objective of providing consumers with competitive prices and a variety of choices in the goods and services that they purchase.
The director actively enforces the Competition Act by monitoring developments in the marketplace and reviewing complaints from consumers, competitors and other interested individuals to determine whether there is evidence of any anti-competitive activity in the marketplace.
In the case of mergers, the act mandates that all transactions of substantial size be reviewed by the director, whether the bureau receives complaints about them or not. The test applied by the director in his review of mergers is whether or not the proposed transaction would or is likely to substantially lessen or prevent competition.
Accordingly, the Competition Bureau reviews all major print media mergers. The bureau's review centres on a merger's economic impact, which in the case of a newspaper merger primarily revolves around advertising issues. Every transaction is thoroughly examined on a case by case basis.
I take this opportunity to encourage anyone who has information that anti-competitive activity is ongoing or that might be facilitated by a merger to bring it to the attention of the director.
The director's view is that the provisions of the legislation are adequate to deal with anti-competitive behaviour in the print media industry. For instance, they have allowed the director to successfully challenge Southam Inc.'s acquisition of a chain of real estate advertising papers in Vancouver.
In addition, the provisions of the Competition Act are subject to regular review in order to identify appropriate amendments to the law. In this regard, a set of amendments to update the law is currently before the Senate.
I will return to the first issue that the motion seeks to address, that increased print media concentration may lead to a lack of diversity of sources of ideas and information. I wish to point to the conclusions of a prior commission of inquiry on this very topic, the Kent commission of 1980.
The Kent Commission felt that increasing print media concentration was a cause for concern as it might limit the dissemination of ideas and information.
It has been almost 20 years since the Kent Commission report. The Canadian information landscape has changed tremendously. The growth of broadcast media has been explosive. Canadians can now partake in an ever expanding universe of general interest and specialty channels, several of which are devoted exclusively to news, debates and editorials.
What also bears mention is the incredible communication potential of the Internet and the proliferation of so-called new media or multi-media services. In Canada the Internet is irrevocably on its way to becoming an integral part of every Canadian's life.
As Peter Desbarats, a member of the Kent Commission, recently mentioned, Canadians now benefit from a wide array of choices when they seek ideas and information.
Nevertheless, Canadians are concerned in some areas. Regardless of the vast array of choices that individuals have in accessing information on events throughout Canada and the world, the newspaper has come to symbolize freedom of expression and the exposure of facts.
Moreover, our newspapers have presented Canadians with a virtual buffet of analytical perspectives reflecting many different points of view. When one person or one company acquires many different newspapers across the country people might rightly ask: Are views being suppressed? Are the views of one perspective over-represented in the newspaper media?
An example can be seen in British Columbia where the owner of the News Group , Mr. David Black, recently told his editors of the 60 weekly newspapers to oppose the Nisga'a treaty and to run a series of eight columns against it. Black's action set a dangerous precedent of management interference. This strikes at the very heart of editorial interference.
We might also ask if local flavour gets sacrificed in favour of a cookie cutter approach from a large corporate super structure.
Should Canadians decide that they are not being well served by the change in ownership structure that we are currently witnessing, what can be done?
I believe that the key to this is to ensure that our information marketplace must be as free of barriers to entry as possible. In other words, we must continue to create a business climate that makes it possible and attractive for existing and potential competitors to provide Canadians with alternatives that they seek.
Maintaining a competitive marketplace is an important role for government and I look forward to working with my colleague from Waterloo—Wellington to make sure that we pursue the right policies to make it attractive for new and fresh perspectives to enter the business of providing information to Canadians.
I thank the member for Waterloo—Wellington for giving us the opportunity to have this debate today.