By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – In leaving behind environmental activism to enter federal politics, new Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault will now be responsible for combating online hate speech; helping to develop a new set of online rights; expanding the CBC’s news coverage; and ensuring that web giants contribute to making, and carry Canadian content.
In the ministerial mandate letter he received from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which was released on Dec. 13 Guilbeault is tasked with creating “new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant penalties. This should include other online harms such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children, or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda.”
The proposed regulations were included in the Liberals’ 2019 election platform , which also committed to exploring “options for civil remedies for victims of hate speech.” That part is included in Justice Minister David Lametti’s mandate letter.
Guilbeault’s mandate letter also calls on him to work with Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains “to modernize” the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act – as part of the ongoing legislative review to examine “how best to support Canadian content in English and French and ensure quality affordable internet, mobile and media access.”
Additionally, the heritage minister is to work with his industry ministerial counterpart to introduce legislation by the end of 2020 “that will take appropriate measures to ensure that all content providers, including internet giants, offer meaningful levels of Canadian content in their catalogues, contribute to the creation of Canadian content in both Official Languages, promote this content and make it easily accessible on their platforms. The legislation should also consider additional cultural and linguistic communities.”
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting executive director Daniel Bernhard said he needs more details on this proposal, which was also cited in the Liberals’ 2019 campaign platform.
“What does ‘meaningful’ mean? Why don’t they just say ‘equitable’ [a word the CRTC has used in promoting Canadian content] or ‘comparable?’” he asked rhetorically. “This one of those things that the government might decide that Canadian broadcasters invest 30% of revenue in Canadian production, and a meaningful contribution for Netflix is 5%.”
In a statement, the Canadian Media Producers Association welcomed “the government’s renewed commitment to implement updated legislation that promotes the production and exhibition of Canadian content by all players operating in the Canadian system, including foreign ‘internet giants.’”
The CMPA also gave a thumbs-up to the federal pledge to “strengthen Canadian feature film by increasing funding for Telefilm Canada,” which is also in Guilbeault’s wheelhouse.
Among his other tasks is to “strengthen the regional mandate of CBC/Radio Canada to broadcast more local news” and require the national public broadcaster “to open up its digital platform,” according to his mandate letter.
Cartt.ca was unsuccessful in seeking clarity from the minister’s office on the latter initiative, but Bernhard thinks it might signal the government’s intention to have the CBC “become the IT department for journalism – and possible streaming – startups.”
However, he cautioned it would be an “expensive and complicated proposition, and if the government wants CBC to get into that business, I hope it’s prepared to pay for it because on its current budget, the CBC is struggling to develop its own tools, let alone help the rest of the country build theirs.”
Guilbeault has also been tapped to work with Bains and Lametti “to advance Canada’s Digital Charter and enhanced powers for the privacy commissioner, in order to establish a new set of online rights,” which was also outlined during the election campaign.
As Bernhard told Cartt.ca when he thought the justice minister would be a good fit in the industry portfolio prior to the November 20 unveiling of the new cabinet, Lametti has a background in intellectual property law and is an “expert” on “how data works.”
In the more recent interview on the mandate letters, Bernhard noted that “opening someone’s postal mail without authorization is a crime, so when we talk about privacy in online communications, I would hope that the involvement of the justice minister indicates that the Liberals are serious about calling privacy breaches crimes, and not just infractions of best practices.”
“When the privacy commissioner concludes decisively that Facebook broke federal and provincial privacy laws and there’s no consequence, we’ve been experiencing under-reach,” he added.
Included in the list of the Digital Charter’s online rights is “the knowledge of how personal data is being used, including with a national advertising registry and the ability to withdraw consent for the sharing or sale of data.”
“YouTube sucking up your data so that you can watch TV – or Facebook doing that when you read the news or Skype collecting all of your contact records when you make a phone call – without consent – are the same surveillance-driven creations, and it makes sense that they cross the traditional lines of cabinet portfolios.” – Daniel Bernhard, FCB
It remains unclear as to what that registry will do and how it would affect such major vertically integrated operations such as Bell and Rogers, but Bernhard believes it might operate much like the ad library Facebook launched during this year’s election campaign where the government’s model would house a directory of “who bought what ads targeted at what audience.”
He is concerned, though, about the enforcement of the Digital Charter.
“One of the big arguments that has been used against those who want to strengthen copyright-protection online and deal with privacy provisions and infractions is that ISPs would have to be involved and censor people,” said Bernhard. “Would ISPs be swept into website blocking be a remedy for serial infringers?”
The cross-referenced mandate letters, in which ministers share responsibilities, reveals, in his opinion, “a belated recognition by the government that telecom and culture and broadcasting and privacy don’t divide easily.”
“YouTube sucking up your data so that you can watch TV – or Facebook doing that when you read the news or Skype collecting all of your contact records when you make a phone call – without consent – are the same surveillance-driven creations, and it makes sense that they cross the traditional lines of cabinet portfolios.”
As part of his mandate, Guilbeault is to also work with Bains in the ongoing review of the Copyright Act, and support the industry minister in creating regulations “for large digital companies to better protect personal data.”
