OTTAWA – NDP Official Languages Critic François Choquette wants Canadian Heritage to prove that its $500 million production agreement with Netflix will include the production of French-language content.
Choquette says that the agreement, which promised to produce original Canadian content in both official languages, committed only 5% through a $25 million envelope to French-language content but without any guarantee that content will actually be produced. And that, the Quebec MP maintains, runs counter to the Official Languages Act.
"Where is the equality among Canada's official languages in this case? This is a real shame in a country where 22% of the population’s first language is French and where there are 10 million French speakers," he said in a statement. “This is a failure by the Liberal government and Francophones are paying the price.”
After filing an unsuccessful complaint with the Commissioner of Official Languages, Choquette said that he has requested another investigation, this time requiring that the Netflix agreement be fully disclosed to determine whether or not the Feds' commitments to protect and promote linguistic minorities have been “respected”.
He added that he is also initiating legal proceedings against Canadian Heritage in federal court for failing to honour its commitments under the Act.
“It may not be Netflix's role to promote official languages, but it is certainly the government's duty to protect both the French and English languages," he said.
