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Results: 151 - 180 of 372
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
That's an excellent question. In fact, most of us would agree that the bill could be sent to committee. Some hon. members still want to speak in the House.
Procedurally, a number of bills are unavoidable. The bill on the economic statement is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, it will be very bad for the country. So some priorities are higher than others, and can't be sidestepped. However, I am hopeful that we will have a moment in the House to quickly conclude debate on Bill C-10 so that it can be referred to committee.
Thank you for doing a preliminary study even if the bill isn't yet before you. This will allow us to speed things up. Once again, thank you.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Earlier, I told your colleague that I made a quick inquiry with the deputy minister to find out whether this action violated a code of conduct or a code of ethics and whether it had ever happened before. This was not the case for either the first or the second question.
Are we losing employees from the Department of Canadian Heritage who were recruited by these platforms? This isn't the case either. Perhaps Ms. Laurendeau can tell you more about this.
Facebook is calling on governments to regulate the issue of online hate. If this is the case for all platforms, between you and me, not to mention everyone listening to us, it's perhaps to share a little bit of the pressure that these companies are under because of everything that's going on. The more governments intervene, the more this pressure will be shared between them and us.
This appeal to the government to intervene is not completely disinterested.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'm not sure I understand the question.
If we're doing legislation, we should gather as wide an array of opinions and points of view as possible to ensure that we have all the information we need as legislators when we do move ahead with legislation.
As an environmentalist I would talk to people in the oil and gas sector all the time to understand what they were thinking. Should we only be talking with these people—that would be hugely problematic. That's not at all what we're doing. We've consulted about 50 to 60 organizations—and we'd be happy to share the list with you—specifically on the issue of online hate. That's not broadcasting or what we're doing on media, but specifically on online hate.
Yes, we spoke to Google and Facebook, but we spoke to a bunch of other organizations as well.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, thank you for inviting me here today.
I'm joining you from Montreal, on the traditional territory of the Mohawks and the other Haudenosaunee peoples.
With me are Hélène Laurendeau, deputy minister of Canadian Heritage, and Jean-Stéphen Piché, senior assistant deputy minister of cultural affairs. I want to thank them for their outstanding work under circumstances that have not been easy in the past few months.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all of us. Its impact on our country is significant in every part of our society.
The Department of Canadian Heritage supports the commitments of the Government of Canada, grows the country's cultural and creative industries, and shares Canada's stories both at home and around the world. As you will recall, the 2020-21 main estimates were tabled in Parliament last February 27. The total funding allocated to my department was $1.5 billion, including $1.3 billion in grants and contributions, and $203.2 million in operating expenses. Heritage portfolio organizations received $2.1 billion in funding.
In early March, we all entered a period of uncertainty. The pandemic hit the cultural, heritage and sports sectors hard. Following the Prime Minister's announcement in April of a $500-million emergency support fund to provide temporary assistance to these three sectors, I announced further details of this funding on May 8, June 18 and July 7.
A survey conducted by Canadian Heritage of the recipients of the first phase of the fund's implementation showed that we met our objectives, both in terms of supporting business continuity and jobs. With a 56% response rate, we obtained a wealth of information. For example, 77% of respondents indicated that the fund helped them a great deal or moderately to stay in business, and the vast majority of respondents, 98%, expressed satisfaction with the speed with which they received the funds.
In rolling out this emergency support fund in record time, in designing all the supplementary measures that went into effect this summer, and in doing so while the department was operating at limited capacity on a business continuity plan, we relied upon our network of dozens of portfolio organizations, thousands of partner organizations, and tens of thousands of stakeholders.
All of these partners contribute to the cultural, heritage and sports sectors which together comprise almost $62 billion of our GDP, contribute 750,000 jobs to the country, and provide us all company, comfort, community and identity in moments like these. Their work demonstrates the power of art, sport, music, literature, and the simple power of telling stories—our stories—in myriad ways.
Since the spring, I have been in close contact with these sectors, which have suffered income losses, job losses and structural changes because of the health measures. To give you an idea of the extent of these losses, according to Statistics Canada, the GDP in the information and cultural industries sub-sector declined by about $3 billion in July compared to February of this year. Similarly, GDP in the arts, entertainment and recreation sub-sector fell by more than 50%.
While this picture is incomplete, it does reveal some vulnerable sectors. This is why I participated in a series of town halls and roundtables to hear from stakeholders, so they could share their ideas about how we can work with them and better support them. Roughly 4,000 participants attended these town halls and roundtables in September and October.
These discussions allowed me to target our assistance more precisely. For example, in September, I announced a $50-million short-term compensation fund to help our film and audiovisual industries resume production activities. The fund will be administered by Telefilm Canada.
Our various assistance measures are reflected in the 2020-21 supplementary estimates (B). The increase in appropriations for Canadian Heritage and its portfolio organizations has made several things possible, including the following: the implementation of the emergency support fund that I mentioned previously; support for students and youth affected by the pandemic; support for the six national museums and the National Battlefields Commission; support for several key cultural organizations, such as the National Arts Centre and Telefilm Canada; and finally, financial relief for broadcasters through a waiver of CRTC licence fees.
Canada's cultural offering is among the best in the world, and I am pleased that our government is supporting it during this critical period.
On Tuesday, I introduced Bill C-10 to amend the Broadcasting Act. This is an important first step in modernizing the Canadian broadcasting system. I also intend to propose other measures to put in place a regulatory framework in which digital platforms contribute their fair share.
We are following developments in France, which has enacted a neighbouring right for newspaper publishers into domestic law. We are also following the situation in Australia and are examining options here in Canada.
In addition, I want to introduce a bill proposing new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech. Finally, I am committed to reviewing the Copyright Act.
I would also like to reiterate that our government has made reconciliation with indigenous peoples a priority. That is why, despite the circumstances, we are continuing to implement the Indigenous Languages Act in cooperation with our indigenous partners, and to support their projects to reclaim, revitalize, maintain and strengthen their languages.
Indigenous cultures, arts, heritage and sport are among our key priorities, and we continue to support them.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am ready to take your questions.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
This varies depending on the type of business. I'm thinking of cable companies, for example. The level of investment in a given market—
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'm not sure I understand you. Is your question about the Canada media fund specifically?
Several investments are made by—
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Ms. Laurendeau, I don't have the number for the Canada media fund handy. Can you clarify this for Mr. Rayes?
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Rayes.
I'll tell you what the employees of the department did. When you look at the overall investments of Canadian broadcasters, depending on the type and size of the company, as I said earlier, the percentage of their revenues that must be invested in Canadian culture varies between 25% and 45%.
Applying this percentage to the revenues of digital platforms in Canada yields a figure of approximately $830 million. Of course, this is an approximation based on modelling. This is the additional amount that would be invested annually in Canadian and, of course, Quebec culture.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
The bill calls for digital platforms to contribute to the sector equitably, as do Canadian distributors and broadcasters.
Why ask the regulator to do this? First of all, it is an independent tribunal of experts. It's not unique to the broadcasting sector, where the legislator asks the regulator to do this kind of work. It's done in the energy field, for example. The government gives direction and passes bills, and the implementation is done by the Canadian Energy Board. This is also done in the legal field. So it's done in several sectors.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
However, I would like to add another important element.
It has been 30 years since the Broadcasting Act was amended. If the past is any indication of the future, it may not be for another 30 years. Over the years, it is much easier to change regulations than it is to change legislation.
I think that over the next 30 years, our consumption habits, cultural production and technologies will change a lot. If we were to propose a very rigid bill, we might end up with the same kind of problems we have today.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Platforms will have obligations with respect to the production of French-language content, as is the case for Canadian broadcasters.
I want to make it clear that many organizations across the country do not share your pessimism. The Fédération culturelle canadienne-française welcomed the minister's wishes. The ADISQ spoke of a historic day. The Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions thanked the minister for keeping his word and called on all parties to support this essential review—
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you for your question.
We have done several things. I talked earlier about the $500-million emergency fund. In that fund, $72 million is earmarked for the sports sector. We divided that money into two parts: half of the money went to the national federations, which in turn gave it to their partners, and the other half went to the provinces to help the provincial and regional federations. The federal government is not in contact with these organizations. We have worked with the provinces and territories to ensure that this money is distributed.
Normally, in federal-provincial agreements, funds are spent on a pro-rated basis, but in this case we have tried to maintain the provincial and territorial sport ecosystem. Instead, we have allocated money based on the number of organizations in a province. This means that Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan received a much higher percentage of money than if we had pro-rated the funds. We really did try to maintain the ecosystem.
The Olympic Games have been postponed, which is creating all kinds of problems, as you well know, for the high-performance athletes who are supported by federal funding programs. In terms of funding, we've simply extended the support we provide to these athletes and their entourages until the next Olympic Games.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you for your question.
It was quite a challenge. We quickly recognized that people receive grants year after year from the Department of Canadian Heritage—that doesn't mean that they are always the same—and the same goes for the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund.
We realized that, if we did not help organizations that normally do not receive funding, it would be very difficult for them to get through the crisis. That's why we set aside almost 40% of the $500-million envelope for organizations that we do not normally fund.
So we conducted a thorough and very broad search with our partners in order to reach those organizations. I spoke about that a little earlier. We created a new website and a simplified application form so that those organizations could quickly become eligible and receive funds. It allowed us, for example, to fund seasonal museums that Canadian Heritage does not normally fund.
It was a very interesting exercise for us, but it shows that we have a lot of work to do in terms of diversity in our ability to reaching organizations of that kind.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
The media in general, and local media in particular, were hit hard by the pandemic, essentially because of the major decrease in advertising revenue. The people who normally buy advertising in those media were themselves facing significant financial difficulties.
Part of our emergency assistance was set aside for the media so that we could support the sector and help it through the crisis. We did other things to help the sector, such as the Department of Health's advertising campaign on COVID-19. The federal government bought advertising in local media all across the country, in print media, in radio and in television.
I could find the exact figures, but several hundred print media and local radio outlets all across the country received that support.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I agree with you. We can always do better and we would love to help as many artists, cultural workers, and cultural and artistic organizations as possible.
As an example, I can tell you about major festivals, which we did not manage to help in phase 1 or phase 2 of the emergency fund. We were not able to find an program with an adequate fit. There are all kinds of major festivals all across the country.
So we are working on it, and I hope that I will be able to announce something along those lines soon. It is certainly one of the sectors where we have to do more, and the quicker the better.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
We have established a number of financial mechanisms to support the people, the ecosystem, the organizations and the companies.
Of course, another one we can think of is the wage subsidy—
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
No, I am talking about the emergency wage subsidy. I will talk about the CERB in a minute.
Mr. Piché and Ms. Laurendeau, I don't recall the exact percentage of cultural organizations that received the emergency wage subsidy. As I recall, it was about 75% but Mr. Piché would be able to give us the exact figure.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Right. It allowed those organizations to keep artists, cultural workers and technical people employed.
Then, as you pointed out, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit is about to expire, but it is going to be replaced by a “CERB 2.0”, called the Canada Recovery Benefit. We also announced that it would be available at least until the middle of next year, because the situation is going to remain very uncertain in the area through the coming months.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I know that some people are asking for those programs to be extended over very long periods of time.
Let's take the CERB, for example. We have already extended it three times, because people were saying that they are not out of the woods yet and still need help. We are extending it, in a different form, at least until the middle of next year.
The situation is changing so quickly from province to province and from moment to moment that it is difficult to announce three-year measures when you do not know what the situation will be next week or next month.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
As I was just telling your colleague, this issue of long-term support has been coming up. Our response is that the situation evolves so quickly it's difficult to plan for the long term, but we've said from the beginning that we would be there and we would have their backs. I think we've shown that we have been there. We will continue to be there to support them until we're back to something that looks like a new normal.
If it takes six more months or a year, well, the government will be there. The Prime Minister has been very clear on that. We won't let them down and we haven't.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
On the first one, where you say that funding has been going down for museums, can you be more specific?
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I don't have those numbers in front of me. I can tell you that about 10% of the emergency funding did go to a special museum program, $53 million, and we provided additional funding for the national museums.
That was announced in August, I believe, Madam Laurendeau?
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
It depends on how successful I am in convincing my colleague at Finance that it should be the case, but we're not quite there yet.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you very much.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I'm also a big fan of CBC/Radio Canada. I've confessed so publicly before. The CBC was able to redirect some existing funds to help compensate for some of the challenges brought on by COVID-19. We are looking at measures to further help CBC in the coming months.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
As part of the reform of the Broadcasting Act, hopefully, once the bill is approved by the House, cabinet will send the CRTC a directive. We want to ensure that there's an increased level of funding for indigenous productions, francophone productions and other equity-seeking groups. Since there will be a large increase in the amount of money available for cultural productions in Canada, we're confident that this will happen.
Let me give you another example. It's not specifically related to broadcasting, but I'm also responsible for the implementation of the Indigenous Languages Act. When we came into power in 2015, $5 million went to indigenous languages in Canada. That amount is at $40 million right now. It's going to be north of $50 million next year and at least $115 million...so that's 15 times what it was in 2015. Obviously, storytelling is intrinsically linked to language and culture. This is another way we're helping, by encouraging and making sure that indigenous peoples in this country can tell their stories.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Hélène or Jean-Stéphen can correct me, but I believe there's been no increase in the CBC funding. I believe those media reports were inaccurate, unless I'm misunderstanding the question.
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View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
The first thing I need to say is that the CBC is not a government organization; it's a public broadcaster. It's an independent broadcaster, an independent organization, with its own independent board.
As Minister of Heritage, I am not involved in the day-to-day decisions of the CBC. They make their own internal decisions.
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