Madam Speaker, I, too, am pleased to speak to Bill S-7. I will be quite brief in my remarks.
I realize it is a private member's bill but I think that members of our party and caucus will support Bill S-7. The bill amends the Broadcasting Act to permit the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or the CRTC as it is better known, to make regulations to establish criteria for the awarding of costs to interveners in broadcasting proceedings as it currently has the power to award costs in telecommunications cases.
I acknowledge the work of former Senator Sheila Finestone and the hon. member for Charleswood St. James--Assiniboia for ensuring the bill is here.
The bill would change the Broadcasting Act so that the CRTC could award costs to third party interveners in broadcasting proceedings. That is of significance. The idea is not radical. It is done all the time in CRTC proceedings under the Telecommunications Act and the world has not ended for the telephone companies. Passing the bill would not be a significant threat to our private broadcasters.
The bill is about balance. The public hearing process currently used by the commission has been problematic in the past. The public interest has been lost in the process or at least partially lost in the process. Those with deeper pockets seem to get preferential access to the system, which makes it impossible for the public to have as much meaningful input as it should have.
For example, in television last year the CRTC awarded CanWest Global a seven year licence renewal and policy approval for cross-media ownership, even though the commission's own decision stated:
Global confirmed that CIII-TV, a station that serves an audience across Ontario, was broadcasting an average of 13 hours per week of regional news. This level is below the 17.5 hours per week of regional news to which the licensee committed for the current term of licence.
Was CanWest Global punished? No, it was rewarded. If one is Global, a big company, one can break the rules and get a seven year renewal.
Vision TV on the other hand recently applied for a similar seven year licence. I happen to know the CEO. Vision TV is a small, non-profit, multi-faith broadcaster. It does not have the hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on the process. It has no banks of lawyers and it has admitted that its record keeping could be better regarding Canadian content logs. While Global got what it desired, the CRTC came down very hard on Vision TV, granting it only a 33 month renewal with harsh restrictions.
Just on the convergence of media, perhaps Murdoch Davis at Southam News would be interested in that and would want to write a national editorial discussing that in a future publication.
Sections 56 and 57 of the Telecommunications Act have the power to compensate the organizations or individuals appearing before the commission during proceedings on telecommunications. The act also authorizes the CRTC to establish refund criteria and to determine to whom costs will be paid and by whom.
The Broadcasting Act does not have such provisions. Consequently, the CRTC has no power to award costs or establish the criteria for awards. This is an imbalance that causes concern and requires immediate rectification. That is why we are debating the bill today.
I looked at the list of consumer groups across Canada that strongly support this initiative. Among them are the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre; the Public Interest Law Centre; the National Anti-Poverty Organization; the Canadian Labour Congress; Action Réseau Consommateur; the Canadian Library Association; the Manitoba chapter of the Consumers' Association of Canada; Communication Workers Union; Rural Dignity of Canada; Association coopérative d'économie familiale; and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
This is a very good cross-section of interested groups in communities across the country. They support this. The New Democratic Party supports it. We know it is going to committee and we hope it will quickly pass into law.