By Denis Carmel
VANCOUVER – The federal government of the United States has expressed concern about Canada’s Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11.
Following a meeting marking the second anniversary of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) coming into force, Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development and Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, met and then issued readouts with the highlights of their conversations.
Tai’s readout on the meeting contained a paragraph stating: “Additionally, Ambassador Tai expressed concern about Canada’s proposed digital service tax and pending legislation in the Canadian Parliament that could impact digital streaming services. The two agreed to continue to collaborate on addressing these and other issues.”
But Ng’s readout was silent on the subject. Alice Hansen, Ng’s press secretary, however confirmed in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca that “Ambassador Tai raised Bill C-11, and Minister Ng reiterated that this bill does not institute discriminatory treatment and is inline with Canada trade obligations.”
This is business as usual. For example, the USTR 2021 Report on Foreign Trade Barriers noted Canada launched its Creative Canada initiative in 2017, “which states that the Canadian Government “will seek commitments from, and pursue agreements with, global Internet companies that provide services to Canadians” to ensure they contribute to Canadian programming and the development of Canadian talent with investments in production and distribution.”
“Although Canada allows Internet-enabled video distribution suppliers to offer services in Canada on a cross-border basis, companies seeking to invest in local production to generate programming for both local and global customers have been subject to highly burdensome requirements. The Canadian Government’s September 23, 2020 Speech from the Throne signaled its intent to move forward with provisions requiring “web giants” to contribute to the creation, production, and distribution of Canadian content,” the document went on.
“Canada continues to explore provisions that could force tech companies to compensate Canadian news publishers for displaying and linking to their content. The United States will closely monitor whether any new obligations on tech companies or foreign streaming providers are compliant with Canada’s international trade obligations.”
These concerns are probably triggered by complaints from “web giants” worried about the consequences of various legislative and regulatory measures imposed on them.
Also, it is quite obvious that such contributions to the creation, production, and distribution of television content is foreign to Americans.
Bill C-11 is currently at the Senate stage and deliberations are expected in the fall.
