MONTREAL – More than 270 members of Canada’s film and television industry are demanding that U.S. web-based media giants like Google, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon play by the same rules as Canadian media.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Heritage Minister Melanie Joly and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland dated September 26, the groups ask that the multinational media companies be regulated and taxed like their Canadian competitors.
“Unlike regulated Canadian companies, these foreign companies do not provide any information on their activities in Canada as required by CRTC regulations. They do not pay taxes. They do not pay a 5% Canadian content levy. Nor are they required to spend a minimum of their content expenditures on Canadian programming”, reads the letter.
The letter says that the foreign OTTs have created an unregulated sector within the broadcasting system that takes billions of dollars from the regulated Canadian sector and out of the country every year. Noting declining BDU investment in Canadian programming, the letter warns that if foreign competitors are able to negotiate a voluntary agreement to avoid regulation, then Canadian BDUs will also ask for a voluntary agreement in lieu of regulation.
“We must regulate foreign OTTs so they too support the production of Canadian content”, continues the letter. “If we don’t bring foreign OTTs within the national legislative regime, we will lose control over broadcasting in Canada, and with it, our national independence.”
