CRTC says it has “no intention” to regulate user-generated content
By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA — Following a legislative journey that involved back-and-forth amendments between the House of Commons and Senate since it was introduced in the House in February 2022, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act reached the finish line on Thursday when it passed the upper chamber and received royal assent.
“This new law will help ensure Canadian stories and music are widely available on streaming platforms, and will help to reinvest in future generations of artists and creators in Canada,” said the Department of Canadian Heritage in a news release.
“The Online Streaming Act requires streaming services to contribute to the creation, production and distribution of Canadian stories in a way that is flexible and fair. The law will give Canadians more opportunities to see themselves in what they watch and hear, under a new framework that will lead to a modern definition of Canadian Content that better reflects our country’s diversity. Canadian artists, producers, creators, and our cultural industry can now count on a fair shot at success in the digital age.”
The first major reform of the Broadcasting Act since it was introduced in 1991, C-11 “aims to level the playing field and support Canadian creators and storytellers by increasing investment in Canadian culture and supporting jobs in the industry, while ensuring that Canadian culture continues to be shared with generations to come,” according to Canadian Heritage.
In a statement, the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) welcomed the updated legislation.
“While the government’s stated goal of levelling the playing field has not yet been achieved, the bill contains many other positive elements that we applaud,” said Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the CMPA.
The association said the bill “enshrines critical provisions that ensure that producers can significantly and equitably benefit from their own stories,” which the CMPA said “will support the growth of more Canadian companies and contribute to a vibrant future for the country’s media production industry.”
Also praiseworthy, in the association’s view, are several provisions in the bill that will “further advance representation and participation from Indigenous, Black and other racialized creators,” and which will “foster a more inclusive broadcasting system that better reflects the needs and interests of all Canadians.”
Still, the CMPA remains concerned about a provision in the bill that, it said, “risks creating a two-tier system where foreign streamers are held to a lower standard than Canadian broadcasters.”
Of concern are subsections 3(1) (f) and (f.1) that would require “each Canadian broadcasting undertaking” to “employ and make maximum use, and in no case less than predominant use, of Canadian creative and other human resources in the creation, production and presentation of programming,” while “each foreign online undertaking” would only be asked to “make the greatest practicable use of Canadian creative and other human resources.”
The CMPA said that “the unintended result could be foreign streamers being allowed to use fewer Canadian creators in the production of Canadian programming” – a “flaw,” it added, which “must be addressed” in the policy direction the federal government will send to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which will be responsible for implementing C-11.
If the problematic provision is not resolved by the CRTC, the CMPA warned that the Online Streaming Act “risks reinforcing, rather than reducing, the ongoing pressures faced by the domestic production sector.”
In a statement released on Thursday, the CRTC said that with Bill C-11’s passing in Parliament, the commission “can now begin building the broadcasting system of the future,” by establishing “a modernized regulatory framework where all players contribute equitably.”
“The broadcasting system will ensure that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content,” said the CRTC.
“Creators will have opportunities to tell their stories and Canadians will have access to a greater variety and diversity of content,” said the commission, adding that it “has no intention to regulate creators of user-generated content and their content.”
The CRTC said that it would share its “detailed plan and launch the first public consultations shortly,” and “adapt [its] approach in light of any future policy direction.”
Said Mastin: “We are on the precipice of a pivotal moment in Canadian broadcasting history.”
“It took 30 years before the Broadcasting Act was updated. Since we don’t know when this opportunity will present itself again, it’s important that we get it right,” he added.
