Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Champoux. In fact, paragraph 9.1(1)(e) proposed in the bill refers to operators of distribution undertakings such as cable companies. The CRTC absolutely has the power to regulate under the Wholesale Code, which governs relations between cable companies and programming undertakings.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the question, Mr. Housefather. If the intention is to ensure that the CRTC has an order-making power to require that there be a proportion of French language original programming, BQ-18 covers you. If that is the intention and the spirit behind PV-20, I do not believe it adds anything.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your question, Mr. Rayes. We discussed the intent of amendment PV-20. The two amendments are not identical, because amendment PV-20 adds the idea of giving the CRTC the power to ensure that a specified percentage of French language programs, and also English language programs, is broadcast.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Shields, thank you for the question. The two terms seem related in the sense that both speak to increasing the visibility of Canadian programming or programming services. “Discoverability” perhaps is a broader term. From my perspective, “showcasing” speaks more to thinking about when you log on to a home screen or something like that and you have the showcase of programs that are being displayed or advertised.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Shields. That would be my view of it, again that “showcasing” has a promotional aspect, although I certainly defer to Ms. McPherson in terms of her reason for putting it forward and what she understands the amendment to be on that. It would be the CRTC, so we're in the context again of where the CRTC has been given certain order-making powers.

Canadian Heritage committee  My view is that the spirit of them is the same. As the committee is aware, in the conventional world, licences had to be renewed at a maximum of seven years. Bill C-10 as tabled did not have a cap on the length of orders and conditions of service, and I am aware that the committee heard from stakeholders who expressed concern about that.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for your question, Mr. Rayes. From what I understand, the initial amendment provided that the CRTC would have authority to regulate contract practices. That would definitely have affected the bill because it currently doesn't provide for that power to be granted to the CRTC.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Housefather. As far as I'm aware, when we look at comparator countries, liberal democracies, the answer to that would be no. Those countries that are, like Canada, moving forward with broadcasting regulation that seeks to include streaming activities within its scope....

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and good morning everybody. If I understand the amendment correctly, perhaps I'd comment on two elements of it. The first element relates to reintroducing the idea that there could be conditions of licence that take the form of contributing to the policy objectives of the act.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for that question, Mr. Champoux. We've made two comments on that point. First, if an undertaking fails to meet its obligation to contribute to the system, the CRTC currently has authority to revoke its licence. However, we know perfectly well that, in the current circumstances, the mere possibility of revoking a licence isn't a very balanced way of taking action against undertakings that fail to comply with the act.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. What Bill C-10 seeks to do is a shift. As the committee is aware, right now the majority of services are subject to licences where there are conditions baked into those licences. As part of permission to operate a TVA channel or a CTV channel, those services are required to contribute to the cultural policy objectives of the act.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe there may be a bit of a disconnect then in terms of Ms. Ien's statements and G-7. G-7 is intended to clarify that policy direction that can be issued by the Governor in Council to the CRTC. It would include giving direction of general application with respect to orders issued under 9.1 or regulations issued under 11.1.

Canadian Heritage committee  You have my apologies, Mr. Chair, but could we have a little bit of clarity about what motion is under discussion currently?

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll begin with a few remarks on the amendment, and then my colleague Ms. Tsui may wish to comment. As you know, as a federal institution, the CRTC is already subject to the Official Languages Act and required under certain provisions to conduct consultations as part of the process.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for your question, Mrs. Bessette. As the committee knows, Bill C-10 would add this paragraph to the act by creating a new class of broadcasting undertakings: online undertakings. Many undertakings are thus concerned here. Since the definition of online undertaking includes undertakings that provide audio and audiovisual services, if the provision is adopted, it will therefore embrace a large number of businesses.