Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, section 32 is the standard provision for criminal offences that you find in most acts, saying that if you breach this act, you're guilty of a criminal offence, which means you have to go to court. You have to prove the offence. You have to prove it to a criminal sta

Canadian Heritage committee  That's really for you to decide, I think, partially. The bill says at the beginning: AND WHEREAS the number of violent scenes broadcast on television during the hours when children watch television, namely, before 9 p.m., has nevertheless increased; I think that's what it is

Canadian Heritage committee  Perhaps I could break it down. You have several questions here. You asked if there was analysis of the 10,000 complaints or of the complaints regarding violence?

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay. As most of you will appreciate, a huge number of complaints are heard by the CBSC. They will be appearing before you, and they can tell you about the complaints they have and what kind of analysis they have done. With regard to the complaints to us, a lot of the 10,000 ar

Canadian Heritage committee  If and when we have a hard case, we really have no means of dealing with it. Fortunately, so far the system has worked very well. Broadcasters are very responsible and responsive, and when these things have come up, they have dealt with them. However, as you are probably aware,

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. As I say, we have some on the telecom side already. This is with regard to the do not call list. And there was also a bill, which was enacted last year, that provides them in respect of other issues in telecom. Has it been done before on the broadcasting side? I honestly d

Canadian Heritage committee  I will ask Mr. Hutton to reply.

Canadian Heritage committee  There is a whole range of fines. It depends, of course, on the seriousness of the offence. Under the Telecommunications Act, the fines range from $1,050 to $15,000. We have to determine what constitutes an appropriate fine. The idea is not to harm or financially ruin broadcasters

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I think that would be a little high. As I said, we can provide you with a draft of the provisions on fines and an appropriate range of fines. In order to do this, we have to check on the fines in place in other industries for activities that are more or less similar. I do not

Canadian Heritage committee  I do not have any information of that type.

Canadian Heritage committee  I will go at the question differently. The bill before us suggests a review of the code and the standards. It was adopted in 1996, and community standards have changed the way we look at these things. It may very well be appropriate to review it. Whatever studies we have, we have

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting us to be here before you. As you say, there are two points, Internet content and administrative monetary penalties. I will begin by addressing the topic of Internet content. I am going to talk now about the regulatory background of the new

Canadian Heritage committee  You raised several points. Let me try to address them in order. You mentioned that in 2006 we said it had yet to have an impact. Those were the views that were imparted to us, and that's what the CRTC reported. Frankly, like you, I feel that was understating the issue. And th

Canadian Heritage committee  We have now produced this document, which you will see on Thursday, which unfortunately, frankly, is not terribly structured, because the new media isn't structured. It is very complex. We've tried to put it in as systematic a frame as we can. We say, “Here it is. Now, really, wh

Canadian Heritage committee  I hear you, Mrs. Fry, and if we can do it earlier, we shall.