Clause by clause process inches along
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – At the outset of the clause by-clause revisions of Bill C-10 on April 19, Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage chair Liberal MP, Scott Simms set the tone: “Buckle up, folks. This is the fundamental core of parliamentary democracy at its best. It’s going to be an exciting time—so exciting that we’ll probably sell the story rights to Netflix.”
Of course, we’re not sure the big streamer largely at the heart of some of these amendments wants to buy that option…
The very first amendment to the Bill was introduced by the Green…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Monday’s federal budget, the first in two years, but the first ever delivered by a female Finance Minister in Chrystia Freeland, promises to deliver more money for rural broadband, but will find the government collecting less tax from foreign digital services as compared to their domestic counterparts.
Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance, which represents more than 100 independent TV, phone and internet providers serving mainly rural communities, was “pleasantly surprised” that the budget allocated an additional $1 billion over six years toward the $1.75-billion (now $2.75 billion) Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) unveiled…
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TORONTO — Ontario’s French-language public broadcaster Groupe Média TFO announced today Sébastien Pierroz (above) has been appointed as producer of Francophone community content for ONFR+, the broadcaster’s digital platform.
“Having joined the TFO team in Ottawa at the inception of #ONfr in 2015, Sébastien is one of the pioneers of the franchise, whose future activities he will now lead with a vision of continuity, sustainability and openness to new audiences and content,” reads the press release announcing his appointment.
Focused on the development of the platform, Pierroz and the ONFR+ team, based in Toronto, Ottawa and Sudbury, will produce new content…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – We criticize our politicians a lot and for various reasons – and often for good reasons – but after watching the hours of often tedious discussion on the myriad amendments to Bill C-10 which members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage painstakingly went through on Friday and Monday, we probably owe them thanks this time.
Friday, April 16th was the first day where the committee studying the bill which will amend our Broadcasting Act went through it clause-by-clause and examined amendments brought forward. This stage was supposed to have started on the previous Monday, but…
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OTTAWA – On Monday afternoon, the federal government kicked off a national consultation effort with the goal of modernizing the Copyright Act in part so that the “revenues of web giants are shared fairly with Canadian creators,” reads the press release.
This new consultation will build on the 2019 Parliamentary Review of the Copyright Act, which did not result in Act amendments. This review will involve both the departments of Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Industry as both want to ensure the copyright framework “reflects the evolving digital world” when it comes to online entities.
“As the distribution and…
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Merger presents a great opportunity for Minister Champagne
By Konrad von Finckenstein
ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCED on March 15th its intention to buy Shaw Communications for $26 billion, and of course the transaction must be approved by the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and the Minister of Industry, Science, and Innovation.
The three entities will undoubtedly consult with each other and co-operate. Logically the Competition Bureau would go first, the CRTC second and the Minister last.
The CRTC approval should be relatively routine. Shaw is a BDU but has no broadcasting assets, having divested them to Corus. Thus, there are no benefits payable under CRTC…
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By Catherine Edwards
IN THE LEAD UP TO the Broadcasting Act review, Canada’s five associations representing the community element (two TV, three radio) were dismayed the Creative Canada Policy Framework, the Shattered Mirror, and the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review reports barely mention community broadcasting, despite it being one of the three pillars of the system.
This omission was significant. The community element is uniquely positioned to address the most pressing issues that face our broadcasting system:
the lack of local programming outside major population centres
the lack of programming made by and for minorities, especially Indigenous communities
…
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By Doug Barrett
WHEN BILL C-10 WAS TABLED last November, it didn’t take long to notice that the first section in the Broadcasting Policy for Canada (“the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians”) had been deleted.
Not modified or amended, but completely deleted.
Since that time, the bill has been debated in Parliament and wended its way through the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage – which has now heard comments from lobby groups, sages, elders, and experts and will soon be considering its own amendments. Many of those appearing before the Committee (including independent broadcasters, producers, associations,…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – “There’s a desire to have Facebook reappear in front of the committee, for a number of reasons. One was the recent news that we had out of Australia and, of course, the important implications that has for Canada and for the work of this committee. Also, there is some reason to believe that, intentionally or not, Mr. Chan may have misled the committee in some of the testimony he provided in his first visit to us this sitting” in January said Heather McPherson, the NDP critic.
In Australia, Facebook and Google agreed in February to…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Government agencies normally say as little as possible when facing a committee of politicians, even when queries from the elected folks repeatedly demand personal opinions. On Friday, however, while appearing in front of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which is studying Bill C-10, which will amend the Broadcasting Act, the chair of the CRTC tried to reassure the MPs the CRTC is up to the task of writing new regs – and offered a few good nuggets of wisdom.
When Conservative member and former sportscaster Kevin Waugh commented, “Actually today, you have the authority to…
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