Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I did try to answer my hon. colleague's question many times. Maybe it is not the answer he wanted to hear, but I have tried time and again to answer the question. What we want is an obligation of results. That is what we are looking for. It is what we are aiming for.
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Mr. Speaker, since the last time the Broadcasting Act was reformed, we have seen the important and ever-increasing role of platforms on the television, movie and certainly on the music side of things. Our laws and regulations simply have not adapted to this new environment, which is costing our artists, musicians and technicians tens of millions of dollars every year. Bill C-10 aims specifically a…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I almost thought she was going to congratulate the Department of Canadian Heritage for its excellent work, but maybe next time. She is quite familiar with the realities of artists since she is part of the arts and culture community. Who in Quebec could forget Pierre Lapointe's strong statement a few years ago pointing out how platforms like Spoti…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite and the Conservative Party of Canada know full well that Bill C-10 has nothing to do with content moderation and what people can and cannot post online. In fact, professional independent civil servants from the Department of Justice, including the deputy minister, came to committee to testify to that effect. It looks to me like the Conservative Party is continuing …
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Mr. Speaker, what we are hearing from the NDP is rather astounding given that ADISQ, the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Union des artistes and many other organizations want this bill to pass quickly, saying that it is a good bill. The Quebec National Assembly has said that Bill C-10 should pass because it is a good bill. The NDP is saying that it knows the subject better …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. He referred to an estimate put forward in committee by Canadian Heritage about the expected outcomes in terms of funding for the arts and culture sector from web giants. This would be around $830 million per year. If we do the math, we see that that is where the $70 million that the sector loses per month comes from. I could not agree with h…
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Mr. Speaker, I will use an analogy which my hon. colleague may understand. What we are interested in is the vehicle, the car, preferably electric, and how fast it can go. We are not particularly interested in what is happening under the hood.
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows of the friendship and admiration I have for her. I respectfully disagree. Frankly, it is not about me, it is not about how rude some Conservative Party committee members have been either in the House or in committee, it is about artists. Every month that passes, we deprive our artists, musicians and technicians across the country of $70 million, every single mont…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question. I have a lot of respect for him but, in all honesty, I am a little surprised by the NDP's position on this matter. Thousands of artists across the country signed a petition. The signers include francophone artists, anglophone artists, indigenous artists, and artists from racialized communities, as well as cultural organizations like…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his question. I will remind him that the motion is before the House and that it is the House of Commons, and not the government, that will make the decision. Why did we proceed in this fashion? I tried to answer this question last week, but I will try again. During the first four Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage meetings where Bill C-…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. I completely agree with him on the significant support for this bill in Quebec and across the country. In Quebec, the National Assembly unanimously called for the adoption of Bill C-10, deeming it a major step forward for the artistic and cultural sector. To quickly answer my hon. colleague's question, I think that time allocation motions re…
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Mr. Speaker, I would just like to point out that the name of the department in French is “le ministère du Patrimoine”, not “Heritage”. More to the point, I want to acknowledge that I was having technical problems that I spent several minutes unsuccessfully trying to resolve with the House technicians. New equipment should be sent to me soon.
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree with my hon. colleague. The comments made by the member for Lethbridge are unacceptable. She must apologize to the House. The Leader of the Opposition must also apologize to the House. I am curious to know whether, according to the member for Lethbridge's criteria, Quebec's Michel Charette, who stars in District 31, a show that draws a record-breaking 1.8 million vi…
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Madam Speaker, first, I would like to say that the premise of my colleague's question is completely false because public servants who are independent from the Department of Justice Canada conducted an independent analysis of Bill C-10 and the deputy minister appeared before the committee to say that Bill C-10 falls completely within the framework of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The…
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Madam Speaker, I am tabling responses to Order Paper Questions Nos. 629 to 634.
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Madam Speaker, the numbers are from 629 to 634.
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Madam Speaker, yet again, we have more fearmongering on the part of the Conservative Party. Let me point out that during the first four meetings of the committee, the committee was able to study 79 amendments. Since the Conservative Party decided to start systematically obstructing the work of the committee, during the last 11 meetings, we were barely able to make it through seven amendments. If t…
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Madam Speaker, for the Conservative Party of Canada to say that it supports artists is like when it says it supports climate change, yet it voted down a motion to recognize climate change at its annual meeting. The Conservative Party says it supports the Charter of Rights, yet 81 Conservative members voted this week to strip away women's right to choose. Canadians do not buy it, and artists certai…
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Madam Speaker, I would like to remind my colleague that the Bloc Québécois supports Bill C-10. The NDP supports Bill C-10. The Greens support Bill C-10. Obviously, the government supports Bill C-10 and artists across the country support Bill C-10. The real question is, why has the Conservative Party decided to side with some of the wealthiest companies in the world, such as Google, instead of supp…
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Madam Speaker, the Conservative Party is attacking our artists and artisans. Every month that goes by, the Conservative Party is depriving Canada's artistic community of $70 million. Bill C-10 will make web giants pay. I do not understand why the Conservative Party has decided to stand with some of the richest companies in the world, such as Google, rather than support our artists.
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Madam Speaker, I would remind my colleague that Bill C-10 is the result of the Yale report, issued by a commission that worked for over 18 months and received 2,000 submissions from across the country. Furthermore, Bill C-10 is supported by the entire arts community across the country. A petition signed by several thousand artists supports Bill C-10. As recently as last week, The Globe and Mail pu…
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Madam Speaker, as I was saying when making my fourth point, which was about freedom of expression, the deputy minister of justice appeared at committee and said that Bill C-10 was entirely consistent with freedom of expression in Canada. Furthermore, with respect to legislation governing the CRTC, I would point out that the CRTC is not a state within a state and must also abide by Canadian laws, i…
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Madam Speaker, the fourth point I want to make, one that my colleague raised earlier, has to do with freedom of expression. We had an independent analysis done by public servants at the Department of Justice that found that Bill C-10 is entirely consistent with—
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Madam Speaker, I would first like to point out that the premise of my colleague from Richmond—Arthabaska is absolutely incorrect. First of all, as the Minister of Canadian Heritage, I am not the one who decides what changes are made at committee; it is the committee itself that decides. Second, as I have said repeatedly, every bill has room for improvement, and this bill to amend the Broadcasting …
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Madam Speaker, as I was saying, during the next 11 meetings of the committee, which is when the Conservative Party started systematically obstructing the work of the committee, only seven amendments were studied or voted on. At this rate, it would likely take more than six months of committee meetings before the committee is able to bring this bill back to the House.
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Madam Speaker, let me give an example of what has been happening at the heritage committee over the past many weeks. During the first four meetings of the committee, this committee was able to study 79 amendments. During the next 11 meetings of the committee, which is when—
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Madam Speaker, in my view, and I think in the view of most member, reconciliation is a path and journey that we are taking with first nations, Inuit and Métis people. There are a number of things that we as government, as the Crown, need to do on that path to reconciliation. This includes things like the adoption of the bill on UNDRIP and the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act, for whi…
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Madam Speaker, this is obviously a very complex issue, one with which our government is seized. We are doing everything we can to find a quick resolution to many of these issues.
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moved that Bill C-5, An Act to amend the Bills of Exchange Act, the Interpretation Act and the Canada Labour Code (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), be read the third time and passed. Madam Speaker, I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are all, whether physically or virtually, present today on the ancestral lands of first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. This is not just somet…
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Madam Speaker, as I said the first time that Bill C-5 was introduced to the House, I recognize all of the work done by Madame Jolibois on all of this. In fact, the bill does reflect what had been tabled during the last Parliament. As the member well knows, the Senate is an independent body of Parliament. That being said, the government has been hard at work for many months, talking to a number of …
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 53(3) of the Privacy Act and to Standing Order 111.1, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, a Certificate of Nomination, and biographical notes, for the proposed reappointment of Daniel Therrien to the position of Privacy Commissioner for a term of one year. I request that the nomination and biographical notes be referred to the Standing Committee…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for the question. We have been working hard for months to get Bill C-10 passed. We have defended it at every forum across the country, while the Conservative Party has been fearmongering by spreading misinformation. We have worked with the cultural sector. There is a petition that has been signed by thousands of artists in support of the bill. We will continu…
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Mr. Speaker, I am rather shocked by my hon. colleague's question. I did not hear the Bloc Québécois speak out in forums all across the country against the Conservative Party and in support of Bill C-10. I spoke with over 4,000 artists from across the country over the last few months, and they told me they want Bill C-10 to be passed. We are doing everything we can. Obviously, the bill is in the ha…
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Mr. Speaker, again, this is a profound misconception about what we are trying to do. In fact, the Department of Justice has stated that there is no problem with free speech in Bill C-10, and the member opposite was at the committee. She got to ask the Minister of Justice questions regarding this. Frankly, what I cannot understand is why the Conservative Party of Canada continues to oppose the fact…
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Mr. Speaker, I profoundly disagree with the basis of the hon. member's question, as does the Department of Justice Canada. Its analysts confirmed that Bill C-10 remains consistent with the charter's guarantee of freedom of speech. Bill C-10 is about levelling the playing field between creators and web giants. It will require big, powerful foreign streamers to provide information on their revenues …
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Mr. Speaker, I believe there is some confusion about the nature of the definition of net neutrality, since it has to do with the infrastructure, that is, how people can access the Internet. Bill C-10 will not affect the issue of telecommunications and infrastructure in any way. All Bill C-10 seeks to do is ensure that the web giants pay their fair share and that our Canadian artists become more an…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that a petition initiated by Quebec's Union des artistes has been signed by people like Yvon Deschamps, Ariane Moffatt and Claude Legault, who all support Bill C-10, as well as by artists from English Canada. I am thinking in particular of Loreena McKennitt, of the CRTC's former executive director, Janet Yale, and of University of Montreal law …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to once again confirm that what we are going to do with Bill C-10 is ensure that web giants pay their fair share. Bill C-10 will not apply to health apps, for example, or to videos produced by individuals. We have been very clear on that. My colleague was there when a Department of Justice statement presented to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage indicated that t…
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Mr. Speaker, I believe there is some misconception about the concept of net neutrality because it refers to hardware: to Canadians being able to access the Internet and having these conditions be the same for all Internet users. Bill C-10 is not about telecommunications or hardware. It is about ensuring that web giants pay their fair share and that Canadians have easy access to the content develop…
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Mr. Speaker, again, this is a profound misconception by the hon. member opposite. We are not regulating the Internet. We are regulating some activities on the Internet. There is a huge difference. Bill C-10 does not affect how Internet service providers manage Internet traffic and does not modify the relevant provision in the Telecommunications Act, therefore maintaining net neutrality.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. Our main focus is to do everything in our power to help the cultural sector across the country, including in Quebec. This sector was hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Bill C-10 will invest hundreds of millions of dollars more in our cultural ecosystem, including hundreds of millions of dollars in Quebec, to support francophone artists a…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question, as well as the National Assembly, which unanimously supports the speedy passage of Bill C-10. This bill is very important to us, but it is much more important to the cultural and artistic community in Quebec and across the country. We will do everything we can to get it through as quickly as possible. It would be very helpful if the Standing…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote the Professional Music Publishers Association, which said, “It is absolutely fundamental for the future of Canadian culture...It makes sure that we have Canadian creation and production, and that this production reaches Canadians” and ”There’s a misunderstanding of what this means.” It also said that the situation had created an unfair advantage for companies lik…
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Mr. Speaker, it has been clear from the beginning that what we want to do is focus on two things. First, we want social media platforms to contribute financially to our cultural industry in Quebec and Canada. Second, we want to make our Canadian artists discoverable on platforms such as YouTube. I was relieved to see that the Conservative Party is finally listening to the cultural sector and that …
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 is designed to level the playing field between Canadian creators and the web giants. It will force powerful foreign broadcasters to provide information on their revenue, contribute financially to Canadian stories and music, and enable different audiences to discover our culture. The bill explicitly stipulates that these obligations apply only to web giants and not to Canadia…
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Mr. Speaker, unfortunately we have another sad example of a Conservative Party member dragging, through the mud, our great Canadian creators, who are wildly renowned around the world. Recently, a number of them won a number of awards at a number of different festivals. It is a sad moment. Unfortunately, it is another example of the Conservative Party listening to the most extremist elements of its…
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Mr. Speaker, Bill C-10 aims to level the playing field between creators and web giants, and I continue to be baffled by the fact that the Conservative Party of Canada has decided to side with some of the wealthiest and most powerful companies in the world, against our Canadian artists in this country and our musicians. We would require big, powerful foreign streamers to provide information on thei…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to read an excerpt for a letter that was published in La Presse this morning. It was written by Alain Saulnier, a communications professor at the University of Montreal and former executive at Radio-Canada. “Quebec's entire cultural community is aware that francophone content is being increasingly marginalized by foreign companies on their platforms. What kind of dangerou…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for providing me with this opportunity to read a long list of organizations that have already lent their support to Bill C-10 in the past few weeks. I am thinking of the Société civile des auteurs multimédia, the Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques, Copibec, the Alliance nationale de l'industrie musicale, the Association des distributeurs exclusif…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind the hon. member that Peter Grant, counsel at McCarthy Tétrault LLP and past chair of Technology, Communications and Intellectual Property Group, came out in support of Bill C-10. Others that came out in support include Jane Yale, chair of The Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel; Pierre Trudel, law professor at the University of Montreal …
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