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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 173

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 27, 2023 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 173 - Mar/27/23
Mr. Blaine Calkins (Red Deer—Lacombe, CPC)
  • Mar/27/23 8:36:34 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to get up and ask my colleague from Calgary Shepard a question, because “there's always something to do.” The government of the day has subsidized media outlets across this country to the tune of over $600 million because these media outlets that are highly regulated by organizations like the CRTC and forced to follow these rules cannot generate the advertising revenue or the interest they need because the government is dictating to them what they can and cannot do. Does my colleague see Bill C-11 doing the same thing to digital content creators on the Internet?
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Context: House Hansard - 173 - Mar/27/23
Mr. Alexandre Boulerice
  • Mar/27/23 9:33:08 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his comment and his question. I think that we could have a debate and a discussion at some point on George Orwell's ideological and political views and his real objectives as a left-wing socialist. To answer his question, I think that it is, in fact, essential that the CRTC has authority over digital broadcasters. That is the purpose of this exercise. It does not expand bureaucracy; there is absolutely nothing new about it. The CRTC had authority over traditional media, television and radio. Over the past 30 years, no one has died because of that. Things still turned out okay. Now, the law needs to be modernized so that it also applies to web giants and digital broadcasters. I do not see how this creates a major problem. People will be able to watch whatever they want, when they want, as usual.
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Context: House Hansard - 173 - Mar/27/23
Mrs. Laila Goodridge
  • Mar/27/23 10:06:16 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Madam Speaker, this is the interesting part about the bill. It is quite a comprehensive bill that covers a lot of different subjects. One of the challenges is that it takes the Internet, something that is very large and very vague, and tries to put it into a box. Frankly, it is not something one can easily put into a box. Therefore, digital creators, whether they be indigenous or from different cultural communities, could be disadvantaged by this very legislation. The up-and-coming artists who have not quite gotten there yet, who are still using their telephone to try to put themselves out on YouTube, will be disadvantaged perhaps by this legislation unless the government decides to step in and decides that they actually do fit the qualifications of Canadian content. This is part of the challenge here, that there are poison pills strung all throughout this legislation, which perhaps has a good intent but does it poorly.
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