(Ottawa) The study of Bill C-10 ended in committee after several weeks of twists and turns.
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Catherine levesque
The Canadian Press
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The piece of legislation, which modernizes the Broadcasting Act, has been the target of criticism from the Conservative opposition, which has tried by all means to slow down its study by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage since the end of April. On Monday, the Liberals and the Bloc finally allied to impose the gag order on the committee and thus force it to conclude its work.
Even the chairman of the committee, Liberal MP Scott Simms, seemed surprised to finish it on Friday afternoon.
“I said at the start (of the works) that maybe it would be so exciting that we could sell the rights to Netflix. I was joking at the time. I’m not sure I’m still joking. It was quite an adventure, ”he dropped towards the end of the three-hour meeting, which took place without too much hubbub from the Conservative MPs.
It is expected that the committee’s report on C-10 will be presented to elected officials of the House of Commons early next week, who will have to adopt it and then vote on the bill as amended. The bill will then be sent to the Senate, which will have only a few days, at most, to consider it before the adjournment of parliamentary proceedings for the summer period.
Representatives of the Upper House declined to comment on the future of C-10 until they had it in their possession.
C-10 aims to subject the web giants to the Broadcasting Act, forcing them to contribute financially to the creation and discovery of Canadian cultural content. The bill is eagerly awaited by the cultural sector, which wants the biggest digital players, like Netflix or Spotify, to be subject to the same rules of the game as traditional broadcasters in the country.
However, it has been strongly contested by Conservative members who argue that the bill would undermine the freedom of expression of Canadians on social media, in particular.
A few days ago, Alberta Conservative MP Rachael Harder took it a step further. She said, in an interview with a local newspaper, that artists who want to see the implantation of C-10 – which would come mainly from Quebec, according to her – are “overwhelmed” because they simply weren’t able to. to adapt to new platforms.
Mme Harder finally apologized on Twitter. On Friday, she was absent from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
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