By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Recently, the federal government posted an appointment opportunity on the Privy Council website for the chairperson of the CRTC and its vice-chairperson.
To the dismay of some, working knowledge of both official languages is not a requirement.
In Ottawa jargon, the post reads: “Proficiency in both official languages would be preferred.”
In question period today, the Bloc Québécois raised the issue: “For them (the Liberals), it is okay to appoint someone who doesn’t speak French to oversee a whole segment of our culture,” said Martin Champoux, the Bloc’s critic for Canadian Heritage, in French, after stating that French…
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OTTAWA – A motion was adopted in the House of Commons today to set a time limit on the debate of Bill C-18 to move it past the second reading stage.
If this sounds familiar it is because earlier this month, a motion was adopted to limit the time spent on second reading debate for Bill C-11. When the motion was passed for C-11, the bill had been debated in the House four times, whereas C-18 has been debated once.
Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (above) argued this motion was needed because they have already seen the Conservatives…
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OTTAWA – The Heritage Committee will continue to hear witnesses on C-11 this week, starting today from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Tomorrow, the committee will meet from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and on Wednesday, the committee will meet from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The witness lists for today’s meeting can be found here and here. The witness lists for tomorrow and Wednesday are to be determined.
Update: Updated notices of meeting for tomorrow (May 31) with the names of witnesses set to appear can found here, here and here. Among those listed are Kevin Desjardins, president of…
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By Howard Law
HERITAGE MINISTER PABLO RODRIGUEZ has promised a policy directive to the CRTC with cabinet instructions on implementing Bill C-11.
Point number one in the new directive should be making the certification of Canadian content more relevant to the Canadian experience by including qualitative judgments of national subject matter in the video content. I posted about this recently, as have others. The signal from the minister is that he has an open mind to it.
Point number two is to direct the CRTC to reappraise the existing regulatory supports for the money-losing local news industry.
Point number three is what to do…
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By Bill Roberts
A LOT CAN happen when you go to theatre school.
For example, you can end up with the Order of Canada, an honorary Maverick Award, be designated as one of the 20 Most Powerful Women in Global TV, and cap it off with a “back home” Saskatchewan Order of Merit.
Say hello to Valerie Creighton (above), president and CEO of the Canada Media Fund (CMF), who has achieved all of the above and more.
Creighton, widely recognized as a gifted and fierce champion of Canadian screen content, confirms a passionate yet distinctively shrewd strategic sensibility in this Cartt.ca podcast.
And she…
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OTTAWA – While some witnesses emphasized the importance of passing Bill C-11 for Canadian broadcasters, others raised concerns about the role it sets out for the CRTC and the potential for user-generated content (UGC) to be regulated during the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage’s first five-hour meeting on the bill today.
Over the course of the meeting, multiple witnesses told the committee the CRTC does not have the expertise the bill requires of it.
“The number of decisions that are left for it to make in Bill C-11 – deciding what companies this applies to and that sort of stuff…
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TORONTO — FRIENDS (previously known as the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting) today announced the launch of a new campaign to support Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act.
To help mobilize Canadians to support the bill, which aims to make streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon contribute to the creation of Canadian content, Friends’ “No More Free Rides” campaign encourages Canadians to write their Member of Parliament to express their support for C-11.
FRIENDS is also petitioning to appear in front of MPs at the Heritage Committee, a FRIENDS email says.
As Cartt.ca reported last week, the Heritage Committee…
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OTTAWA – News is important.
This was a sentiment everyone on the panel discussing compensation for news media at the International Institute of Communications Canada’s annual conference yesterday was able to get on board with – but it was also essentially the only thing everyone agreed on as they discussed the government’s recently introduced Bill C-18, known as the Online News Act.
The panel, moderated by Christopher Dornan (above, left), a retired professor at Carleton University, was composed of four people each representing different interests, which made for a lively debate.
Kevin Chan (second from left), the global director of Facebook’s…
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OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez says he has heard the criticisms of the CRTC, but he still believes the time has come to modernize it, and in doing so, entrust it with regulating online platforms through bills C-11 (the Online Streaming Act) and C-18 (the Online News Act).
“Some argue that the CRTC is not responsive to consumers and creators, that it lacks the expertise and resources to deal with the new legislation,” Rodriguez said during the final keynote speech at the International Institute of Communications Canada’s annual conference yesterday.
Rodriguez acknowledged that essentially, some say…
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By Ken Kelley
OTTAWA – Less than a week after the House of Commons voted to send Bill C-11 to Canada’s Heritage Committee, a panel gathered at the International Institute of Communications Canada’s 2022 conference weighed the details and realities of the act.
Bill C-11, also known as the Online Streaming Act, was first introduced in February 2022. Its goals include clarifying the scope of the Broadcasting Act, which dates back to 1991, and determining how the latter should apply equitably to online streaming services.
Today’s panel comes on the heels of a Globe & Mail-Nanos Research poll, which shows…
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