Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to rise in the House today to speak to Bill C-55.
I know members are eager to return to their ridings and to go home, but we in the NDP believe that the bill today is a very important bill. We intend to have as many members as possible speak to the bill because it is very critical in terms of the protection for our cultural industry.
Earlier today, the member for Saint John rose in the House to call for an emergency debate on the merchant marines. She stated that the merchant marines who served in the war have never had recognition nor have they had their pensions. I make this remark because she said very eloquently that we would not be here today if the merchant marines had not fought or contributed to defending our country and democracy. That is very true. We would not be here today in the House or in this kind of democratic institution.
In the same vein, we should think about what it is that defines us as Canadians, which is partly what the bill is about. What is it that defines us as Canadians. Sometimes people believe that is a difficult question to answer. I, as do my colleagues in the federal New Democratic Party, believe that one of the things that defines us as Canadians is our culture. Whether it is our writers, our filmmakers, journalists, editors, publishers, printers, readers, children who may be involved in creative writing, our artists, visual artists, performers or theatrical artists, our Canadian culture and diversity is something that is very critical to who we are as a nation and as a people.
That is why members of the NDP are so concerned about Bill C-55. Even though it represents a small portion, just one piece of our cultural industry, it is an important piece and needs to be examined under the microscope of whether or not the bill will protect and enhance Canadian culture in this country or whether it is taking us down the slippery slope and the road toward further destruction.
In listening to the debate today, in particular from the Reform Party members, it has been very interesting to hear the discussion and the points of view that are held and to hear the Reform members raise the question of how we regulate culture. I have heard Reform members say that it cannot be done. However, in their next breath, they have also pointed out that the biggest export from the United States, a very massive economy to the south of us, is the cultural industry.
Reformers say that culture cannot be regulated or protected, but just a few moments ago we heard a Reform member say that culture is just another industry. The Reform member said that we should not worry because the bill was just about another industry and that we should leave it to marketplace. We in the New Democratic Party have a very different view. We believe that, yes, there is a cultural industry but it is intrinsic to who we are as Canadians and it demands, because there are imperatives, whether it is on magazines, broadcasting, the printing industry or the performing arts, that we stand in solidarity with the 987,000 cultural workers in this country who give us that definition of who we are and who allow us to speak to one another with vast differences in the regions, where we have come from and who we might be.
The NDP believes that we must stand up and protect our cultural industries and our magazines. That is why we believe this debate on Bill C-55 is so important.
My riding of Vancouver East is home to many cultural workers. I think there is a myth that somehow Canadian society or the government subsidizes cultural workers and the arts. In actual fact, I think the opposite is true. Cultural workers, and very often the culture industry, subsidizes the rest of us.
I know from artists, writers, people involved in magazine writing and independent journalists that people are desperately trying to get a message out about what is happening in their own communities and in their own lives and to have debate about different issues. Many of those people operate in an environment that is threatened all the time. This is again why the NDP believes very strongly that we have to stand in defence of Canadian culture and Canadian cultural workers. Our critic, the hon. member for Dartmouth, has expressed this many times in the House. She is, herself, a well-known Canadian playwright.
It is really coming from that sort of premise that we in the NDP are very distressed, maybe not surprised but certainly distressed, about the route and direction that Bill C-55 has taken.
Originally, our party gave lukewarm support to Bill C-55 as something that would provide some protection. However, what has become increasingly clear over the course of many months and so-called negotiations is that the government has caved in. I have to agree with the Reform member who just spoke. It is not just on this issue that the government has caved in. One just has to look at the salmon treaty in my province of British Columbia to know that the Canadian government caved in on that one too.
It is distressing because the Liberal government had an opportunity to defend Canadian interests in dealing with the Americans and protecting our cultural industry. By not using the cultural exemption contained in NAFTA, which is yet untested, and by ignoring even its own legal advice about Bill C-55 being WTO-proof, the government in these so-called negotiations has actually shown that we have no interest in protecting our own culture.
It is also distressing because what we have learned from this process is the lesson the Americans have learned. They know that if they threaten a trade war, we will surrender. I heard a Liberal member earlier proudly stand up and say that we did not end up in a battle with the U.S. on this. I would agree, but the reason we did not end up in a battle is because we simply gave in to it. We should have had a battle. We should have been out there on the front lines, maybe with support from other parties. I know our critic would have been there if she had been invited to the table. We would have been there with cultural workers to say, “yes, this is something we want to have a battle on because we are not about to give in. This is the thin edge of the wedge”.
By refusing to use the existing trade rules to protect our split runs in magazines, we are basically saying that we will allow the Americans to make up international rules as they go along. We are very concerned about this. It is the thin edge of the wedge. It is only a matter of time before this massive industry, the largest export industry in the U.S., which is culture, goes after Canadian content on television or ownership levels in broadcasting. They might even go after our book publishing industry which, as we know, has been a very dynamic industry over the years. It is a dynamic industry but it is also very vulnerable to the massive industry south of the border. They could also threaten our Canadian film industry and our feature films. The list goes on and on.
I and my colleagues believe that the debate today on Bill C-55 is not just about the specific provisions of the bill. The debate is also about what will happen in the future, what the Liberal government will decide to do, and what course it will chose to take in terms of our cultural industry.
I would like to spend a few minutes just looking at the highlights of this so-called American deal, which I think we would characterize as a Liberal sell-out, and the amendments that have come back from the Senate. The reality is that the deal was made after the Americans threatened a trade war. Canadian trade experts, both inside and outside the government, have stated repeatedly that the Canadian version of Bill C-55 was WTO-proof and that the cultural exclusion in NAFTA would also protect Canada in any trade war.
What have we seen? After months of behind closed door negotiations, we have learned that the Prime Minister directly intervened and, as a result, Canada surrendered. If somebody doubts that, they just need to read the debates in the House, the discussions and the questions during question period.
The member for Dartmouth, our critic for culture and communications, has been following and monitoring this very closely because she has a keen interest in it and has a very good understanding of what the debate is all about. To give the member for Dartmouth credit, she has been able to expose and bring forward in the House just what a sell-out Bill C-55 is.
It is curious that the Liberal members characterize the amendments that have come from the Senate, that were part of this so-called American deal, as providing certainty and security. We have to really question that. What certainty and what security? It seems to us that the only certainty is that we are now embarked on a course where our interests are continually being put on the table and then whipped off the table because they have been sold off.
We know that the heritage minister responsible for this industry and for this bill went to the Senate and introduced the amendments that we now see in the bill. These amendments are really implicit to the capitulation that took place to the Americans. In fact, after using time allocation in the Senate, the Senate passed the bill—surprise, surprise—and we have it back in the House today.
What did Canada give away? Well, definitions of Canadian content, now editorial content, is considered Canadian as long as it is original to a magazine aimed exclusively at the Canadian market, not, and I stress not, if it was written by a Canadian. I think that is a very disturbing kind of definition.
The precedent is now set for the Americans to challenge the definitions of Canadian content under the WTO and NAFTA, which could have profound impacts on our protections in broadcasting, book publishing, film and even protections around all of our cultural institutions.
When we had control of our own market under the original Bill C-55, it was illegal for new split-run magazines to accept Canadian advertising. Under this deal, the Canadian government has agreed that we will allow new split runs to be created to invade our market with up to 18% Canadian advertising and, as we know, over a three year period. Since Canadian advertisers can write off a portion of their ad expenses spent on Canadian magazines on their taxes—and remember that can now include magazines with no Canadian content—the government is actually saying that it is Canadian taxpayers who are providing a subsidy.
When Bill C-55 first came forward it was with the support of the NDP caucus. We felt it was better than nothing. We were lukewarm warm about it but we did provide some support. It offered some protection to Canadian magazines from new split-run editions of American magazines.
We expressed our frustration very clearly. The bill seemed to be subject to bargaining with the Americans behind closed doors. Even so, the minister gave us her assurance that the spirit of Bill C-55 would be respected in any deal. We raised this point in the House continually, and we were always assured that the substance, the spirit and the intent of the bill would remain solid and would not be given away.
We now know differently. The so-called deal that was made is actually substantially different and has set us in the direction of completely selling out. The negotiations have not provided the kind of protection and the kind of defence that the minister stated publicly time and time again in the House and elsewhere.
The deal that was put together committed Canada to amending Bill C-55 in the Senate to permit foreign owned publishers to benefit from increased market access with respect to advertising directed primarily at the Canadian market. The deal also committed Canada to amending our foreign investment policy so that it falls under section 38 of the Investment Canada Act, allowing cabinet to regulate or prescribe what and how much foreign ownership Americans can have in our industry.
The agreement also forces Canada to allow for increased ownership, up to 51% after 90 days and up to 100% within a year, subject to the benefit test. The deal also committed the Canadian government to change the Income Tax Act to allow advertisers to receive deductions for placing ads in American publications aimed at the Canadian market.
When we consider what has taken place over the last few months, the deal really sets out the surrender of our market by prescribing the formula to allow for American split runs to invade our market up to 18% within 36 months. As we have heard, we are already flooded with American material.
One of the most disturbing points for the NDP is that in creating this so-called deal it is curious the amendments and the process came through the Senate. Should that not have happened in the House of Commons? Why is it that the government allows that to happen in terms of introducing those amendments after the original introduction of Bill C-55? Why is it that took place in the Senate, a body that is undemocratic and unelected?
We are now debating a substantially different bill with major amendments from the Senate. The bill should have originated in the House with debate and discussion in the House. On those grounds alone we have very grave concerns and opposition to the bill because of the process used.
I will give an example of what the bill means. It is a very technically complex bill. I will lay out the following scenario of what might be possible. What is possible under the amended Bill C-55 if it goes through?
Suppose Mr. Jesse Helms set up a magazine in Miami aimed it at the Canadian market to attack our policy on Cuba. This is not an unlikely scenario. A majority of the editorial content of the magazine is written only for that magazine, meaning that under the Senate amendments to Bill C-55 it is considered a Canadian publication.
Canadian advertisers in that magazine can therefore deduct a portion of their advertising costs from their taxes. This allows the publisher, Mr. Helms, and his magazine to supply lower ad rates. The only Canadian who touches this magazine would be the consumer, if anyone happens to read it. No Canadian writers, no Canadian editors, no photographers or printers are required for the magazine to be considered Canadian under Bill C-55, the new deal.
The consequence is that existing Canadian magazines will suffer as a result of the subsidized ads in the new magazine, the so-called Canadian content, when ads are no longer placed in existing Canadian magazines. That is the consequence of the so-called certainty, security, defence, and protection from the Liberal government for our magazine industry.
This is why we stand in the House today to say that we will not go along with it. We can see through it and we will tell Canadians that this is a sellout. We have seen capitulation on other issues in this session. This is a sellout. We will not go along with it but not for the same reasons as the Reform Party. We want to defend and protect our cultural industry for Canadians because it defines us as Canadians.