[​Projet de loi C-11] Sprint to Code Broadcasting Colorful Shows

The Liberal government on Monday scrambled to consider a broadcasting bill for passage in the House of Commons before the summer. His opposition to multinational platforms he says are doing enough for Quebec culture and conservatives who fear censorship rallies their Twitter page.

“I don’t know how long the government will allow this video to stay online.” Rhetorical question Posted on Twitter Written by the Saskatchewan Parliament and former leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, Andrew Scheer.

In the linked video, we can hear a YouTuber comparing Canada to Russia in terms of censorship, and we see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in front of the World Economic Forum logo. “The Liberals have a bill that gives the government a great deal of control over what you can see and post online,” Scheer says.

The Bell C-11 It fully specifies that it does not apply to ordinary Internet users, but only to platforms that broadcast “commercial content”. It aims to force them to contribute financially to Canadian productions, as is already imposed on traditional broadcasters, and to make this content more accessible.

“More conspiracy theories,” sent liberal Randy Poissonault to the Conservative benches, whom he accused of blocking on Monday. His party has approved a motion in the House of Commons, backed by the New Democrats, to start voting on the text and its amendments on Tuesday. So the Trudeau government hopes to send the bill to senators before the summer.

Last year, the government joined the Quebecwa bloc in adopting such an order in the hope that the previous version of the bill (then called C-10) would be passed before the election. Unsuccessfully, since the start of the summer suffrage has killed him in the series. This time, the bloc refused to close in protest of the government’s delay in its legislative timetable, but the party also supports C-11.

reserves platform

The bill should pass easily, with the Conservatives being the only parliamentary opposition. Its critics can also count in their ranks the main web platforms, each of which has expressed its reservations, but in the record there are no references to the dictatorship.

They all cited a “lack of clarity” in the federal definition of what content would be “commercial” enough to be regulated, fearing, for example, that influencers or YouTubers would fall into that category.

Even if Minister Pablo Rodriguez reiterated several times that the law applies primarily to music or films only, this accuracy does not appear in the text of the bill. Nothing more than the idea of ​​limiting the content discovery commitment to just having a Canadian playlist, for example.

All these details will be determined by CRTC, after consultations and in accordance with directives not yet published by the Minister. Pablo Rodriguez also promised to revise the standards for “Canadian content,” since many products produced in the country currently escape this definition.

enough contribution

Unlike YouTube, which considers a financial contribution more comfortable than having to show Canadian content, streaming music giant Spotify fears it could force C-11 to pay artists more. The company stresses that it already contributes enough to the local culture.

“We want to make sure that all of our contributions are taken into account, including the payment of royalties, in order to ensure that our commitments are fair and proportionate,” it said. Should Spotify’s head of international communications, Taylor Griffin, from New York.

In a brief presented in Ottawa, the Swedish multinational specified that two-thirds of its music revenue had already been returned to artists, which would be 8.5 times the broadcasting royalty rights. Spotify, which has 28 playlists in Quebec or in French, has partnered with Les Francos de Montréal and collaborates with ADISQ, among other contributions. Asking her to do more will force her to “make tough choices,” the book says.

The government estimates it can raise up to $1 billion from cultural platforms, but has not detailed the expected contributions from each.

Let’s see in the video