‘Create loopholes’: Heritage minister plans to reject Senate changes to streaming bill – National
The Liberal authorities’s controversial On-line Streaming Act is again within the Home of Commons, the place MPs are set to debate the Senate’s amendments.
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Also referred to as Bill C-11, it will require massive tech corporations that provide on-line streaming providers, corresponding to YouTube, Netflix and Spotify, to contribute to Canadian content material.
If handed, the bill will replace broadcasting guidelines to embody on-line streaming and require these corporations make Canadian content material accessible to customers in Canada — or face steep penalties.
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez mentioned his intent is to reject a number of Senate amendments that don’t align with the spirit of the bill, together with one that’s geared toward defending creators who add movies on YouTube.
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He mentioned that proposed modification would permit massive tech corporations a loophole to keep away from paying into the media fund.
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“We acknowledge (the Senate’s) exhaustive work, and we shall be accepting a big majority of the amendments they adopted,” Rodriguez mentioned Wednesday.
“As promised, we’re accepting amendments that guarantee tech giants pay their justifiable share towards our tradition, and we’re declining the amendments that create loopholes. That’s what Canadian artists and creators have requested us to do.”
YouTube, which pushed for the change, mentioned it will have protected the livelihoods of digital creators.
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“It’s inexplicable and deeply unsettling for tens of hundreds of Canadian creators that the Senate’s efforts to add widespread sense readability to this laws could possibly be rejected,” mentioned Jeanette Patell, head of Canada authorities affairs and public coverage for YouTube, in a press release.
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“We hope that MPs pay attention to creator considerations, and we stay dedicated to advocating for our creators and customers in Canada at each step on this course of.”
Digital First Canada, a gaggle that advocates for thousands and thousands of Canadian on-line content material creators, additionally expressed dismay in Rodriguez’s determination, saying it’s a “slap within the face” to creators who took half within the legislative course of and to senators “who acknowledged these creators as the way forward for Canada’s digital financial system.”
“It’s stunning that the Senate’s sober second thought was dismissed, and that the federal government continues to act as if digital creators are usually not legit artists and entrepreneurs,” mentioned Scott Benzie, director of Digital First Canada, in a press release.
“However the voices of creators and their communities won’t be ignored. We aren’t going wherever _ and this authorities and legacy media are simply going to have to get used to it.”
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The bill is awaiting a remaining vote within the Home of Commons, however authorities Home chief Mark Holland suspects it should cross with the Senate’s assist regardless of the rejected amendments.
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It’s additionally anticipated the Liberals will strike down a proposal that will have required corporations to confirm customers’ ages earlier than they entry sexually-express materials on-line.
“We’re devoted to passing this laws so I feel you’ll see very broad assist from the elected Home on this laws,” Holland mentioned Wednesday.
“We may have a fulsome response to the Senate’s amendments and I’m very assured that the Senate will settle for our verdict.”
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Senate amendments the federal government plans to settle for embody the promotion of Indigenous languages and Black content material creators, and guaranteeing that funds collected from tech giants go towards selling range, fairness and inclusion.
Rodriguez additionally agrees with Sen. Paula Simons, who handed an modification to take away a clause within the bill that she described as giving “extraordinary new powers to the federal government to make political selections about issues.”
The Senate launched that change after Ian Scott, the previous chair of Canadian Radio-tv and Telecommunications Fee, instructed a committee that some provisions within the bill did transfer the stability level “barely nearer to lessening the independence” of the regulator _ although he insisted that it will stay impartial.
If handed, the CRTC shall be tasked with imposing the bill’s provisions.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
