Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. I have to agree with Professor Geist that thresholds are very important. The new law, according to the minister's comments, would force or compel companies like Netflix that have substantial operations in Canada to invest their fair share in the production of original

Canadian Heritage committee  As a brief note of context, private media in Canada is falling off a cliff because successive governments have allowed their competitors, mostly Facebook and Google, to do things that would be illegal for the media to do. They don't pay taxes. They can broadcast illegal content.

Canadian Heritage committee  The act says a lot about broadcasters' responsibility for their decisions. In the future, however, most decisions will be made by algorithms, by machines. Discoverability is a good example. Human beings are no longer determining programming choices; machines are. Companies that

Canadian Heritage committee  I hope so. Companies may say that they are secrets of great value. However, I can't think of a single case where, after an inspection, the government would divulge a company's trade secrets, in the banking sector, for example. It is not a convincing excuse to me.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, exactly. Companies also need to show us their code from time to time to prove that they are willing to follow the rules. The algorithms' results are not always perfect, but it is crucial that companies prove that they are well-intentioned. The CRTC inspects the documentati

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I agree. To improve the situation, without correcting it completely, we suggest changing the definition of broadcasting in the Interpretation Act. It is the act that is used by the agencies and the government to interpret the Income Tax Act. This could improve the current s

Canadian Heritage committee  Of course, Mr. Rayes. Thank you for your question. The exclusion of social media from the bill implies two things that worry me. First of all, it concerns the responsibility for the content disseminated. The Broadcasting Act says that each broadcaster is responsible for the con

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, we recognize that the system has changed and that it was necessary to include foreign broadcasters, because it is impossible to build a wall between us and the rest of the world. However, there is also a need to promote Canadian ownership and accountability in Canada. It is

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much. Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today. The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is a citizen’s movement dedicated to defending our cultural identity on the airwaves and online. Since our work is fu

Finance committee  The establishment of a fair playing field is incredibly important. There are a number of measures. Forcing them to pay for the content that they use is definitely a key measure and an easy one that can be enacted right now. Following the lead of Quebec and Saskatchewan in requiri

Finance committee  Thank you. I would say that I am in favour of competition. However, when one party has to pay employees, editors, lawyers and printers and has to pay taxes and has to collect sales taxes, and their partners are not only free of all of these encumbrances but also can then take th

Finance committee  I try to take a pragmatic approach. You mentioned at the beginning that these companies should be good citizens. With respect, I—

Finance committee  I'll try this. I hope that's better. With respect, Mr. Julian, you mentioned that these companies, the platforms, Facebook and so on, should be better citizens. Respectfully, I think that's perhaps not the right frame. Their viewpoint is irrelevant. The Government of Canada shou

Finance committee  Thank you very much for the question. Before I answer, I have a very quick clarification to make. It was bugging me that my last answer could be interpreted to mean that Friends only supports increased funding for the CBC in the event that the private marketplace is not regulate

Finance committee  We could talk about this for hours and hours. Given the time allotted, I would divide it into two segments, the public and the private. On the private side, the government can take measures to ensure that the people who produce the content get paid for it. That's the nature of o