(Ottawa) Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney and Amazon are “the new big players” and should contribute more to Canadian culture.
Posted at 12:29 a.m.
During a debate in the House of Commons on a bill to regulate the streaming service, Rodriguez said the update to the Broadcasting Act is long overdue and must cover content commercial on social media as well as streaming platforms.
He says the last time the law was updated in 1991, people would rent movies from the video store and listen to music in their “Walkman”.
The new law would regulate streaming platforms as well as traditional Canadian broadcasters who are already obligated to provide Canadian content.
Minister Rodriguez says he wants to see the creation of more Canadian programming to promote local talent, such as series Welcome to Schitt’s Creek and Anne with an E from CBC, also streaming on Netflix.
But he says he’s “flexible” about how streaming platforms contribute to Canadian culture, and that they could use different models, including putting money into a fund.
“Amazon, Netflix and Disney are already investing in Canadian content and we love that stuff. It’s very entertaining,” Mr. Rodriguez said.
But he added that Canada has incredible talent and wants streaming services to invest more in Canadian film, television and music.
“Our system must also pave the way for new Canadian artists,” added the Minister.
Rodriguez also said Indigenous, disabled and racialized Canadians, as well as people from the LGBTQ community, “deserve to have a space to tell their stories.”
Speaking at the bill’s second reading, Mr Rodriguez said it had ‘resolved’ issues raised by critics of a previous version of the legislation, who feared it would stymie people who watch or create content for social media platforms.
This version of the bill failed to become law before the election after concerns were raised that social media influencers or people uploading homemade videos to YouTube could be affected by the law.
Rodriguez said the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which will be responsible for regulating streaming platforms as well as traditional broadcasters, “will not have the power to regulate the day-to-day use of social media by Canadians”.
But the Tories said they were still concerned the law could apply to people using and posting content on social media. John Nater, Conservative heritage critic, said that “this ‘trust us’ approach does not inspire trust”.
He also indicated that there were questions about the definition of Canadian films and television productions.
“Canadians want to know what constitutes Canadian content,” said Nater.
The Conservatives will not support the bill at second reading, but will make amendments to it when it is considered by a House of Commons committee later, Nater said.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Rodriguez said the bill would do a lot to support Canada’s creative industries, including French-Canadian music and film.
He added that the government had listened to concerns about regulating social media content, such as “cat videos”, and had “fixed the problem”.
Mr. Rodriguez said he consulted with many influencers and content creators, adding that they are “incredible people […] and some of them make a fortune — but this bill is not about them”.
He said only commercial-only content — for example, a professionally produced song on YouTube that’s also available on Spotify — would be affected.
But he added that the law needs to be updated because “two-thirds of Canadians listen to their music on YouTube.”
“If you find a song by The Weeknd on YouTube and you find the exact same song on Spotify, then it should be treated the same,” he said.
Rodriguez said the new law would raise more money for Canada’s creative industries from streaming platforms, but would provide “flexibility” for companies such as Netflix and Disney to give their opinion on how they contribute, because they work in different ways.
“Netflix has a very different business model from Disney, which is very different from Spotify on the music side,” he said. We have to understand that they have different business models and we have to add value to the mix and take that into consideration”.
“What we are putting in place are targets and how they are going to achieve these targets will depend on discussions and negotiations,” the minister added.
Some platforms could commit to returning a percentage of Canadian content and others could contribute to a fund that would then be distributed to Canadian artists and creators.
The minister said he was optimistic about the support of Bloc Québécois and NDP members for the bill.