By Denis Carmel
WHEN BILL C-10 WAS TABLED by Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault on November 3, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting noted some amendments to the Broadcasting Act could, as a consequence, wipe out foreign ownership restrictions on broadcasters.
Friends said it is “concerned by the fact that multiple sections of the Broadcasting Act have been repealed or amended to remove protections for Canadian culture… It also removes language that the broadcasting system should be owned and controlled by Canadians, opening the door to foreign companies to buy up what’s left of Canada’s traditional broadcasting system.”
So, we asked the department of Canadian Heritage about the rationale in removing the language on ownership.
“The primary goal of the Bill is to clarify that online broadcasters are subject to the Broadcasting Act, and to formalize their inclusion in the broadcasting regulatory framework. Due to the inclusion of online broadcasters, the previous version of 3(1)(a) that states: ‘the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians’ is simply no longer true.
The new version of objective 3(1)(a) takes into account this new reality and updates the broadcasting policy to assert that all broadcasters will contribute to the system: “each broadcasting undertaking shall contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the broadcasting policy set out in this subsection in a manner that is appropriate in consideration of the nature of the services provided by the undertaking’,” the Department responded in an email. (our emphasis)
That said, “the Bill makes no changes regarding the requirements for Canadian ownership and control of traditional broadcasters. The CRTC will continue to license traditional broadcasters. Only Canadian individuals, companies and organizations, as defined in the Direction to the CRTC on the Ineligibility of Non-Canadians, will be eligible to hold a licence,” says the Heritage statement.
So, at this point, Corus, for example, could not be sold to ABC for example, unless the Direction is voided.
It is of course in response to the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel which said in its January report: “We also considered the question of Canadian ownership and control of the broadcasting system. While Canadian choices such as Crave, illico.tv, and Gem exist, the online marketplace is dominated by foreign service providers such as Netflix, and more are entering Canada. Many parties told us that they recognized the importance of Canadian ownership within the sector but also stressed the need to include the foreign component within the ambit of the Act.
“With foreign companies capturing significant market share, it is unrealistic to build a legislative framework based on the concept of a single system that is effectively owned and controlled by Canadians. Nevertheless, the existence of Canadian-owned and -controlled companies remains important to ensure the creation and distribution of content that reflects Canadian values and perspectives.”
Maybe we should stop talking about a Canadian Broadcasting System and instead talk of a Broadcasting system in Canada?
The Bill will be debated in second reading on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, where we’ll have a better idea of where parties stand. Then it will go in Committee. It could go rather fast, as the legislative agenda seems quite thin.
