OTTAWA – The Senate Transportation and Communications Committee defeated five of six amendments introduced by a Conservative senator intended to define parameters in bill C-11, a proposed around proposed legislation that would allow the CRTC to further regulate online streaming platforms.
The bill, also known as the Online Streaming Act, went through a clause-by-clause process at committee on Wednesday.
Saskatchewan Conservative Senator Denise Batters introduced six amendments, five of which did not survive. The first was to amend the definition of community channel to use “language of their choice” rather than “language used in a community.”
The second, and surviving amendment, was to modify wording in the Broadcasting Act to define a decision as any determination made by the commission in any form.
The third and fourth amendments were notions of storytelling added to the definition of indigenous news organizations as well as the definition of journalism.
The fifth was to add a definition of discoverability to mean the ability for Canadians to search for and find Canadian content.
The last was the addition of a definition of marginalized communities to mean “communities of individuals who face discrimination and exclusion — including social, political and economic exclusion — because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions.”
The amendments were defeated because they were considered of no consequence.
The last amendment discussed, but not voted on, was one about defining a company captured by the legislation as one that earns at least $150 million in revenue. The Conservatives had also tried to include such a threshold in Bill C-18 to ensure smaller players would be excluded.
“One of the things the government is concerned about with the establishment of a threshold is potential unintended consequences,” said Thomas Owen Ripley, associate assistant deputy minister, cultural affairs at Canadian Heritage.
“For example, at $150 million, which is the amount being proposed, that would exclude online services operated by CBC/Radio-Canada, for example, and the government’s position is that CBC/Radio-Canada is uniquely placed to contribute to the policy objectives of the act. This provision would exclude CBC Gem, likely, as well ICI TOU.TV.
“One of the concerns is, if there’s too much of a bright-line rule, it reduces the ability of the CRTC to make regulations that make sense, given the nature of the undertaking,” he added.
Screenshot of Denise Batters at committee
