Pablo Rodriguez

[Canadian Heritage, March 9th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader of the Bloc Québécois for his question and for his interest in culture. I, too, want to acknowledge the work of the member for Drummond, the members of the Bloc Québécois, the members of the NDP and the government members.

Unfortunately, the Conservatives have no interest in culture, whether it is Quebec culture or culture from across Canada. All they do is listen to the web giants.

We will stand up for our cultural sector, for music, for movies and for videos. Our culture is who we are.

[Canadian Heritage, March 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is from Quebec. I think he is pretty great. We are from the same province.

Did he talk to the Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo, ADISQ, which supports the bill? Did he talk to the Union des artistes, which also supports this bill?

People in music, film and television all support it. Even Quebec supports it. Why? Because it is good for Quebec culture and for culture in Canada.

The Conservatives do not like it because they do not care about culture. We care about culture. We are protecting it and we will always protect it.

[Canadian Heritage, March 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I have to hand it to my colleague: She is very creative, which is good in the cultural sector. If we listen to people in the music sector and the film industry, they are all behind this bill. Streamers make a lot of money, which is fine. We are happy for them. However, the bill asks streamers to contribute to the creation of more music, film and television from here. It is good for Canadians but not for the Conservatives.

[Canadian Heritage, March 7th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives had options. They could have sided with Canadians. They could have sided with our music creators, film producers or actors. However, they decided to side with the tech giants by abandoning the cultural sector. This is a shame.

There is another thing: I do not think they understand the bill. I am not even sure they read it, even a year later, because if someone reads the bill, it is very clear. It is simply asking streamers to support our culture. They understand that. Everybody understands that but the Conservatives.

[Canadian Heritage, March 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the government has said yes to various demands made by Quebec. We are working with Quebec. What Quebec wants is to see Bill C‑11 passed for the music, film and television industries.

The Conservatives, who have filibustered the bill the entire time, have suddenly woken up to say that culture is important. Since when has culture been important to the Conservatives? They could not care less. Our government will be there for our artists despite the Conservatives.

[Canadian Heritage, March 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, we are here, supporting our culture, our artists, our creators, our music industry, our books, our television, our movies.

What are Conservatives supporting? They are supporting web giants and tech giants. That is it. They are standing up for them, not for Canadians.

On this side, we are standing up for Canadians.

[Canadian Heritage, March 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, Conservatives think that culture is what one finds in a yogourt bowl.

They never raise it. They do not care about it. They stand up for the web giants and that is it—

[Canadian Heritage, March 6th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I do not think my colleague understands what he is talking about.

If he is talking about Bill C-11, it is simply asking streamers to support Canadian culture. If he is talking about C-18, it is simply asking the web giants to support independent journalism.

One thing remains: the Conservatives keep filibustering things that are absolutely essential for Canadians. If they do not want to help, they should stay out of the way and let us do the job.

[Canadian Heritage, February 16th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that my colleague did not yell too loudly or he might have woken up his gang that has been asleep for the past year.

We have been debating this bill for a year. The Conservatives in the House are asleep. The Conservatives in the Senate are asleep.

In the meantime, we are working for the music, movie and television industry. We are working for Quebec and for all Canadians.

[Canadian Heritage, February 16th, 2023]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP are certainly working in Quebec's interests.

It is like we are dealing with a groundhog that has just woken up from its winter slumber and is telling us how well it slept, now that it has finally woken up.

However, things were moving while the groundhog was hibernating. There were meetings in the House. There were meetings in the Senate. This is a good bill. We are going to move forward, even if the Conservatives do not want to.