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Results: 46 - 60 of 185
View Alain Rayes Profile
CPC (QC)
Mr. Lametti, with all due respect, you are the Minister of Justice. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a public document. My question is simple: I would like to know whether the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects only individuals or whether it also protects the content they post online.
In your opening remarks, you said that there may be some limits to rights and freedoms, but you didn't want to elaborate on that, and you're perfectly entitled to refuse to do so.
I'm not asking you to give us a legal opinion or to prove any of this. I just want to know whether or not the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects both individuals and the content they put online.
View Alain Rayes Profile
CPC (QC)
That's fine. Thank you, Mr. Lametti.
The chair has made it very clear that you are under no obligation to answer our questions if you do not wish to do so.
My understanding is that you don't want to tell us whether section 2(b) of the Charter protects both individuals and the content they post online. I don't know whether that is true or not, but that is my understanding.
The statement that you submitted on November 18 explicitly included in its analysis the proposed section 4.1 of the Broadcasting Act. That section was removed on a Friday afternoon about three weeks ago. That is at the root of the conflict we find ourselves in. However, you, as Minister of Justice, do not want to give us a legal opinion or at least tell us, based on your expertise, what you think.
You said earlier that lawyers or experts could be consulted once the bill is passed. Experts have already come to speak with us. Yesterday, Le Devoir published an open letter supported by five experts, including several former senior CRTC officials. I am sure you have read it. If not, your advisors or political staff must have read it. Those senior executives explicitly said that this would be challenged. We already know that. We have heard concerns from university professors, experts and policy analysts. I think it is legitimate for members of Parliament, who have to make recommendations, to consider those concerns.
Originally, the bill proposed to add section 4.1 to the act to protect the content that users post online. Now that this section has been removed, how can we be sure that users' content will be protected?
As a member of the House of Commons, how can I make a decision on this issue if you, as Minister of Justice, cannot help me?
View David Lametti Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you for the question.
I can tell you that, when the bill was introduced, the original charter statement concluded that the bill was consistent with the charter, subject to the considerations that I explained to you in my comments and my answers to questions. As a result of the amendments made to the bill, we have provided an explanatory document in which, after analysis, we reach the same conclusions.
If you have specific questions, you can ask Minister Guilbeault. It is his bill and he is the one responsible for answering such questions. If you wish, I can give him the floor.
View Tim Louis Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you very much, Chair, and I thank Ministers Lametti and Guilbeault for being here. I appreciate that and also I want to thank the representatives from justice and heritage for being here in this important conversation.
We've heard lots of testimony already and numerous arts organizations have come out in support of Bill C-10. Our artists are among the most fierce defenders of free speech in our society. They understand that updating this Broadcasting Act in no way infringes on the freedom of expression nor does it represent any censorship of the Internet.
Minister Lametti, I would like to hear from you. Can you explain the balanced approach that this bill takes in supporting our arts and defending free speech? Specifically, the charter statement says, “In making regulatory decisions, the [CRTC] must proportionately balance the objectives of the act with protection of freedom of expression in light of the facts and circumstances.”
Can you explain exactly what you meant by that? Is it your conclusion that the original import of the charter statement still applies and remains true?
View David Lametti Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you for the question. Thank you for regaling us during late night votes with your musical skills and your voice.
Mr. Louis, the charter statement does discuss the regulatory decision-making process of the CRTC and does, as you have said in your question, cite the balance that it has to achieve. I would add, as part of the charter statement—and it's indeed quoted in the charter statement—that the commission is subject to the charter and therefore must exercise its discretionary power in a manner that is consistent with the charter and the act. It therefore provides that the act must be interpreted and applied in a manner consistent with freedom of expression.
That's contained in the charter statement. If you want to delve further, I'm going to give you the same response that I've given to our other colleagues around the table, which is that I will turn the floor over to Minister Guilbeault to give further precision.
View Julie Dabrusin Profile
Lib. (ON)
Perfect.
I don't know how much time I have, but I would like to be able to give some time to Minister Guilbeault to respond. I know that he has indicated a couple of times he wanted to say things. I think, given that it is so important to move forward to clause-by-clause and we've heard from so many of the people in the creative industries about the importance of this bill and from witnesses yesterday as well, the minister might have something that he would like to add.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and Ms. Dabrusin.
Earlier on in one of her questions, Ms. McPherson said that because the bill had around a hundred amendments, it was a flawed bill. That's a false premise. I know that, just like me, she's a new MP, so we're not used to this. It's not uncommon for bills to have 200 amendments. Going back in the previous Parliament, I can recall Bill C-69, which I followed closely in my previous career, had around 200 amendments. There's nothing extraordinary about that. In fact, a hundred may not be so much after all.
She pointed out that we've heard about experts who have raised concerns. I think just yesterday this committee heard from a number of experts who have actually clearly said that they thought there were no issues regarding freedom of speech. We've heard from a previous director of the CRTC, Janet Yale, and from a law professor from the Université de Montréal, Pierre Trudel.
I could quote this because I don't think it has been done in this committee and I think it is important. It's in French, so I'll switch to French. It's the unanimous resolution from the National Assembly.
The motion recognizes that Bill C-10 “constitutes a significant step in protecting and promoting Quebec culture and..., therefore, [the National Assembly of Quebec] affirms its support for the measures proposed by the bill.”
I think Bill C-10 actually has a lot of support across this country given the benefit it will bring to our artists as well as to the broadcasting ecosystem.
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
Have you considered any proposed amendments that would strengthen the bill's compliance with the charter principles?
View David Lametti Profile
Lib. (QC)
It is the minister in charge, Minister Guilbeault, and his team who would assess amendments and proposed amendments and who would go over their legality with justice lawyers, either embedded in the heritage department or within the justice department, as the case may be, but it is entirely up to Minister Guilbeault and his team.
Janet Yale
View Janet Yale Profile
Janet Yale
2021-05-17 14:35
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you all for the invitation to be here today. My panel colleague Pierre Trudel and I are very pleased to provide our perspective on Bill C-10.
We endorse the federal government's efforts to update the legislative framework governing the broadcasting system to include both media streaming services and sharing platforms. This approach is consistent with our report, which recognized the realities of a borderless online world in which Canadians will seek to access media content based on personal interest, irrespective of platform or technology.
Bill C-10 would ensure that these new online streaming services, including Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime, as well as sharing platforms like YouTube, are required to make an appropriate contribution to Canadian cultural content. These online services derive significant revenues from Canadian audiences from both advertising and subscription revenues, yet face no obligation to contribute. To imagine that in 2021 we would permit these platforms to make money from Canadian audiences, Canadian consumers and Canadian creativity without any corresponding contribution defies logic, particularly when our system imposes obligations on traditional broadcasters that are now much smaller, less powerful and less prosperous.
In our report, we recommended, as a matter of competitive fairness, that online undertakings be included in updated broadcasting legislation. Our report also made it clear that these regulatory obligations should be restricted to the platforms—that is, if we use the language of the law, to undertakings. Individual creators should remain untouched by regulation, and that is exactly what Bill C-10 proposes.
Let me say it again: Bill C-10 imposes regulatory burdens and the obligation to contribute to Canada's creators only on the undertakings such as the big streaming and sharing platforms, not on individual creators.
I will put it another way. Programs consist of audio and audiovisual content. TV shows, songs, podcasts, postings and that programming—all those programs—exist beyond regulation and will remain beyond regulation. Individuals who create content, whether amateur or professional, and audiences large and small are not affected by Bill C-10 when they upload their programming, share it or even sell it to a streaming service. No one is going to police that content, tell them what they can say or compel them to pay dues.
What Bill C-10 does require—and, from my perspective, thank goodness we are finally taking this step—is that the undertakings—the YouTubes, Disney-pluses and Netflixes of the world that share that content and make money from distributing content—must operate by a set of rules and contribute some amount of the revenues they are harvesting from Canadians to the production of Canadian content.
Finally, to those who argue that Bill C-10 fails to protect user-generated content, we say that is just wrong. Proposed section 2.1 specifically provides that exemption already. New amendments that have been tabled make this exclusion even clearer. Therefore, to persist in creating this illusory scare against freedom of expression is either to misunderstand the legislation, in my view, or to intentionally seek to mislead people for some other purpose.
I will finish by saying this: Legislation, of course, is complex, and broadcasting policy and its regulation can be very technical. Devils do lurk in details, and that is why the scrutiny of this committee is so important. However, what's at stake here isn't hard to understand: We need to make provision for the reality of these immense and hugely powerful online platforms. We need to ensure that they give to, not just take from, Canadian creators and Canadian audiences. We need to update a broadcasting framework that was last amended before the world was even online. We need what is set out in Bill C-10, with all its provisions and all its protections. We urge the government to pass this legislation as quickly as possible.
Thank you.
Michael Geist
View Michael Geist Profile
Michael Geist
2021-05-17 14:39
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
As you know, my name is Michael Geist. I appear in a personal capacity, representing only my own views. I always start with that statement, but it feels particularly necessary in this instance, given the misinformation and conspiracy theories that some have floated and that Minister Guilbeault has disappointingly retweeted.
As I am sure you are aware, I have been quite critical of Bill C-10. I would like to reiterate that criticism of the bill is not criticism of public support for culture or of regulation of technology companies. I think public support for culture is needed, and I think there are ways to ensure money for creator programs this year and not in five years, as in this bill.
Further, I am puzzled and discouraged by the lack of interest in Bill C-11, which would move toward modernizing Canada’s privacy rules to help address concerns about how these companies collect and use our data. The bill would also mandate algorithmic transparency, which is much needed and far different from government-mandated algorithmic outcomes.
I’ll confine my opening remarks to the charter-related questions and widespread concerns about the regulation of user-generated content, but would welcome questions on any aspect of the bill.
There is simply no debating that following the removal of proposed section 4.1, the bill now applies to user-generated content, since all audiovisual content is treated as a program under the act. You have heard experts say that and department officials say that. The attempts to deflect from that simple reality by pointing to proposed section 2.1 to argue that users are not regulated is deceptive and does not speak to the issue of regulating the content of users.
I will speak to the freedom of expression implications in a moment, but I want to pause to note that no one, literally no other country, uses broadcast regulation to regulate user-generated content in this way. There are good reasons that all other countries reject this approach. It is not that they don’t love their creators and want to avoid regulating Internet companies; it is that regulating user-generated content in this manner is entirely unworkable, a risk to net neutrality and a threat to freedom of expression. For example, the European Union, which is not shy about regulation, distinguishes between streaming services such as Netflix and video-sharing services such as TikTok or YouTube, with no equivalent regulations such as those found in Bill C-10 for user-generated content.
From a charter perspective, the statement issued by the Department of Justice last week simply does not contain analysis or discussion about how the regulation of user-generated content as a program intersects with the charter. There is similarly no discussion about whether this might constitute a violation that could be justified, no discussion on the implications of deprioritizing speech, no discussion on the use of terms such as “social media service” that are not even defined in the bill, and no discussion of the implementation issues that could require Canadians to disclose personal location-based information in order to comply with the new, ill-defined requirements.
In my view, the prioritization or deprioritization of speech by the government through the CRTC necessarily implicates freedom of expression. The charter statement should have acknowledged this reality and grappled with the question of whether it is saved by section 1. I do not believe it is.
First, the bill as drafted, with section 4.1 in it, was the attempt to minimally impair those speech rights. With it removed, the bill no longer does so.
Second, the discoverability policy objective is not enough to save the impairment of free speech rights. There is no evidence that there is a discoverability problem with user-generated content.
Ms. Yale’s panel, which notably appears to have lost its unanimity, recommended discoverability but cited no relevant evidence to support claims that there is an issue with user-generated content.
Third, the objective of making YouTube pay some additional amount to support music creation is not enough to save the impairment of free speech rights either. This isn’t about compensation, because the works are already licensed. This is about paying some additional fees, given concerns that section 4.1 would have broadly exempted YouTube. I am not convinced that was the case, as services such as YouTube Music Premium might well have been captured. I am not alone on that. Canadian Heritage officials thought so too in a memo they wrote to the minister. In fact, it was such a non-issue that Mr. Cash’s organization did not even specifically cite the provision or raise the issue in the brief that it submitted to this committee.
I find it remarkable that the minister and the charter statement effectively tell Canadians that they should trust the CRTC to appropriately address free speech rights but are unwilling to do the same with respect to how section 4.1 would be interpreted.
Let me conclude by noting that if a choice must be made between some additional payments by a streaming service and regulating the free speech rights of Canadians, I would have thought that standing behind freedom of expression would be an easy choice to make, and I have been genuinely shaken to find that my government thinks otherwise.
I look forward to your questions.
Pierre Trudel
View Pierre Trudel Profile
Pierre Trudel
2021-05-17 14:44
Mr. Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, good afternoon.
I'm a law professor, and I've been teaching the Broadcasting Act since 1979. I was the research director of the Caplan-Sauvageau committee, which produced the 1991 Broadcasting Act. As my colleague Janet Yale pointed out, I was involved in the work of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel.
As noted in the notice from the Department of Justice, which was tabled a few days ago, Bill C-10, amends the Broadcasting Act, which does not authorize measures to be taken against individuals with respect to the content they create and decide to put online. Above all, the act already clearly provides that all measures put in place to regulate broadcasting activities must respect freedom of expression.
Moreover, the Broadcasting Act has never authorized the CRTC to censor specific content. The CRTC's entire practice over the past 50 years is a testament to that. Furthermore, the Broadcasting Act requires that the CRTC refrain from regulating broadcasting in a manner that violates freedom of expression. It's hard to imagine a broader exclusion than that. It is an exclusion that requires a prohibition on interpreting the act in a way that empowers the CRTC to take action and create regulations or orders that violate freedom of expression.
In addition, as you know, the act provides that the CRTC shall refrain from regulating any activity that does not have a demonstrable impact on the achievement of Canadian broadcasting policy. In fact, the Broadcasting Act is enabling legislation. There are no specifics in the act. It is enabling legislation that empowers the CRTC to put in place rules adapted to the circumstances of each company so that they organize their activities in a way that contributes to the achievement of Canadian broadcasting policy objectives, as set out in section 3 of the act.
Therefore, Bill C-10 does not need to expand exclusions for any type of content. Rather, it is a recognition that Bill C-10 already excludes measures that could be suspected of infringing on freedom of expression and ensures that the Broadcasting Act applies to all companies that transmit programming, including on the Internet, which is the primary purpose of Bill C-10.
With regard to these online companies that determine content and that, it's important to remember, already regulate content that is offered to individuals through processes based on algorithms or artificial intelligence technologies, Bill C-10 strengthens the guarantees of fundamental rights for all Canadians. It empowers the CRTC to compel companies to provide information on the logic behind these algorithmic devices, which does not currently exist. It enables the CRTC to put measures in place to ensure that Canadians are offered programming that reflects the principles, values and objectives set out in section 3 of the Broadcasting Act.
Nothing in the Broadcasting Act as it is proposed to be amended would allow the CRTC to impose on anyone programs that they do not want to hear or see, let alone allow the CRTC to censor content on platforms.
Rather, the act provides individuals with a real opportunity for choice. There is currently no guarantee that online companies are offering Canadians a real and meaningful choice that reflects Canadian values as codified in the Broadcasting Act.
There has been a constant since the early years of radio, and that is a tension between those who believe that broadcasting undertakings should be left to market forces alone and those who—rightly, in my view—believe that intervention is required to ensure the effective availability of programming that is the product of Canadians' creative activity.
Bill C-10 is part of this continuum, which has allowed Canadians to have media that offers the best the world has to offer, while also giving prominence to the works of Canadian creators, including creators from minority and indigenous or first nations communities.
Thank you.
View Rachael Harder Profile
CPC (AB)
Awesome. Thank you so much, Chair.
My question is for Dr. Geist.
Ms. Yale, the minister and all of the other witnesses on this panel today have tried to make the claim that our freedom of speech is not being attacked by this bill. In fact, they claim that it's not even impacted, and that somehow content can be moved up or down in the queue without impacting other content. It would be my observation that in order for some information to be bumped up and made more discoverable, other information must be bumped down. I just don't see how it's possible for that not to be the case. When that is the case, it means that there's a mechanism being used to regulate and curate what I can and cannot see, which then would be a form of censorship.
Mr. Geist, I'm wondering if you can comment or elaborate on this further.
Michael Geist
View Michael Geist Profile
Michael Geist
2021-05-17 14:58
I think you've highlighted what is the nub for so many experts that have spoken out on this issue.
First off, let's be clear: User-generated content, when we are speaking of the content, is regulated. It's absurd to simply suggest that you're exempted or the CRTC is bound by some other policy objectives. We are putting it into the basket of regulation. We would never dream of saying the CRTC would or should regulate things like our own letters or our blog posts, but this is a core expression for millions of Canadians, and we are saying that it is treated as a program like any other, and subject to regulation. That's number one.
When you layer on top of that—as the Liberals' proposed amendment does—discoverability requirements, what you are saying is that the government, through its regulator, gets to determine what gets prioritized. It is not about any specific piece of content per se, but it's going to make choices, elevating some and deprioritizing others. That clearly has an impact on individual Canadians' expressive rights. It's doing so in an environment that frankly is completely unworkable, when you think about this from a user-generated content perspective. The notion that somehow this increases choice at a time when there is unlimited choice for user-generated content is frankly just absurd.
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