Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to participate in your study of Bill C-18. Access to authoritative news is critical for democracy and core to our mission at Google. For 20 years, we've been helping Canadians find the answers to w

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much for the question. I'll start off by underlining that we share the same spirit of ensuring a sustainable news industry in Canada, both today and in the future. We agree with many of the observations made by my fellow witnesses. To the question you're asking,

Canadian Heritage committee  I've tried to make the point today that there are some very broad terms with little definition contained within Bill C-18 that rely upon regulation and interpretation by the regulator. When we, as a company and a platform that serves billions of clicks to Canadians a day, evaluat

Canadian Heritage committee  The legislation before us addresses a policy challenge that was identified two years ago: the threat to existing journalism organizations in Canada. It attempts to create a regulatory framework to address that. We heard today, from the other witnesses, that there are many strate

Canadian Heritage committee  The numbers you've cited are a signal of the crisis that's overtaking the industry and has been for several years. That includes some concern about advertising, but as mentioned by other members of the committee, it also concerns the restructuring of the business in Canada. What

Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to take a step back from the numbers that the department has provided and speak to the concept of value exchange. As Mr. Myles has been hinting at—

Canadian Heritage committee  We have deals that cover 150 publishers, 90% of which represent small, local or regional communities.

Canadian Heritage committee  There is not a number that I can disclose.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are a number of commercial agreements that would have a total number, but I'm not—

Canadian Heritage committee  The long-term goal for us is to work with journalism organizations to ensure their vitality and continued contribution to Canadian society. It's an underlying principle of ours because it's essential to both our services and the expectations of customers.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm afraid not, but I would like to point out that they are commercial agreements. As in any industry, commercial agreements are between two parties and are normally kept confidential. As has been discussed, the CRTC will have an oversight role, but—

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, definitely.

Canadian Heritage committee  This bill will not address the question you're identifying or the problem you're identifying. It will not grant transparency to these deals.

Canadian Heritage committee  As a member of the public? It's free.

Canadian Heritage committee  The concern that Canadians reflected in that survey—which is a snapshot in time—is reflective of our concerns about the legislation not having detail that provides us with certainty of the impact this legislation will have on the availability of information and the amplification