By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – After three meetings that interrupted the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-10, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage got back to work Wednesday afternoon but did not advance at a pace that would suggest that the bill will get out of committee anytime soon.
The amendment discussed today was proposed by the government and announced previously by Minister Guilbeault. It was supposed to correct the impression that the removal of Section 4.1 was an attack on the freedom of expression, the impression that the CRTC would be given power to somehow regulate user generated content. The amendment, however, only seeks to ensure social media companies report on their revenues, pay some contributions and make the content of Canadian creators more discoverable by users.
The Bloc proposed to replace “Canadian creators” with “Canadian content” and a second portion that would ensure that the CRTC, in doing so, would be in conformity with the Charter of Rights protections of the freedom of expressions of users.
Committee members discussed severing the motion in two, which took some time, and the first portion was defeated and the second one adopted but the Conservatives voted against.
Finally, the Government amendment was passed with a few minutes to go in the meeting.
The Conservatives then moved an amendment to exclude social media users, trying to resolve the impasse in which the Committee finds itself. But that amendment was ruled out of order because it jumped the queue, since the amendments are sequenced sections and that there were other amendments already filed dealing with earlier sections.
During the prior meeting, on Tuesday, David Lametti, Minister of Justice finally showed up to explain the Justice Department’s Charter Statement on Bill C-10, and was accompanied by Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage.
Lametti came reluctantly. “It is a Parliamentary convention that that Ministers do not appear on another Minister’s legislation,” he said. Plus, he was not able to answer most of the questions the members had because it was outside what he is able to say as Minister of Justice. For example, he can’t give his own personal legal opinion, nor would he comment on C-10 itself, since it is not his bill.
However, it soon became obvious that opposition members had no interest in hearing from Guilbeault when Lametti deflected most queries and tried to pass the puck to Guilbeault.
For example, Rachel Harder, a Conservative MP said “Its okay, Mr. Lametti the question was for you. If you prefer not to answer, you can say that publicly,” when he tried to bring Guilbeault into the conversation.
Some questions were asked, and the minister was not very helpful. For example, “Do you feel there’s something that can be added to Bill C-10 that would ease concerns on the perceived threat to freedom of expression?” asked Martin Champoux, the Bloc MP.
To which Minister Guilbeault replied.” The committee is able to recommend amendments. I’m of the belief all bills can be improved, we’re a minority government and we’ve accepted many proposals to amend legislation in the past and we will continue to do so.”
On the fact that Lametti appeared only after the Committee’s insistence, Bloc MP Champoux urged the Heritage Minister to make sure his “caucus take this bill as seriously as you are.”
The Committee meetings are normally held on Mondays and Fridays but next Monday is a holiday. While the Committee has given itself the ability to schedule meetings if and when they can find room, equipment and interpretation, we don’t yet know when the next meeting will be scheduled.
