“It has nothing to do with freedom of expression. Federal Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is preparing to go to the front to defend the Liberal government’s plan to regulate different facets of our Internet consumption, denouncing the “libertarian side” of the conservative opposition, according to whom ” nothing should be regulated”.
Has a single other country in the world deemed it had the authority to ask web giants to foster their national culture online, going so far as to ask them to fund it? On the phone, Pablo Rodriguez thinks.
“I know it’s cutting-edge legislation, but how far? I do not know. I don’t know in detail everything that is done elsewhere […] There are efforts elsewhere, but we really based ourselves on what we want to do as Canadians for Canadians. And that will help enormously the French-speaking and Quebec content. »
This is the idea behind C-11, a bill introduced for the second time in Parliament this winter, in the midst of the Freedom Convoy crisis: it aims, on the one hand, to require platforms like Netflix, Disney +, but also YouTube or Spotify, to finance “in their own way, according to their business model”, Canadian culture. They are also asked to facilitate the discovery of Canadian content online, again without dictating a specific method.
Listening to Pablo Rodriguez, nothing will change from the point of view of Internet users. Or so little. For example, video-on-demand platforms might suggest that the next movie to watch is Canadian. Music applications could offer a Canadian playlist.
“It’s up to them [les plateformes] to do so, and we will never meddle in the way they do. And it’s going to be very flexible. [Il faut] that through all of this, there is an effort to put Canadian content,” explains Mr. Rodriguez, in an interview with The duty during a visit to Montreal on Friday, on the eve of a tour of the Western provinces.
Broadcasting law reform is just one of three missions Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the MP for Honoré-Mercier after last fall’s election. He has also been tasked with figuring out how to pass the bill for news production to the web giants, the subject of a bill introduced last week (C-18), as well as banning online hate, a bill whose only the main lines have been revealed.
An “ideological” opposition
The Quebec minister therefore takes up the torch from his colleague Steven Guilbeault, who last year presented a first version of the reform of the Broadcasting Act. This reform was cut to pieces by the Conservative Party and other observers, especially in English Canada, who saw a risk of censorship of Internet users. The support of the Bloc Québécois to speed up its adoption was not enough: because of the impediments put in the way by the Conservative opposition, the bill died on the order paper when the election was called.
” I think that [l’opposition à ce projet de loi] is ideological and extremely partisan. It’s the very libertarian side of the Conservative Party, which has slid to the right, according to which nothing should be regulated, nothing should be regulated. »
Pablo Rodriguez responds to criticism by promising that he will not subject any online creator to regulation, nor podcast producers or social media influencers. This, even if the text specifies that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) could impose “conditions of service” on any website that broadcasts “commercial programs”, which opens the door to the regulation of all kinds of production. The CRTC would, for example, be entrusted with the task of determining the cultural value of pornography.
“I know there are people who have all kinds of theories [sur ce que le CRTC pourrait faire] “, agrees the minister. It will specify in a letter of directives to the CRTC a more restricted definition of what will be regulated, essentially films, television series and music. “I’m going to ask them to review the concept of Canadian content, to modernize it, to say what Canadian content is today,” he adds.
talk to giants
How will Pablo Rodriguez succeed in having this new Canadian model adopted for Internet regulation, where his predecessor broke his teeth? The former Liberal parliamentary leader, accustomed to negotiations with the opposition, says he has already started discussions both with the opposition and with major American companies, from Facebook to Disney to Amazon. “One of the things I’ve done from the start is talk to them. as much in [les projets de loi] C-18 than in C-11, the important thing is to talk to the different players, who all have a role to play. »
Even Facebook expects Canadian regulation, he argues. He is convinced that making it bear part of the bill for the production of Canadian news will not provoke the same hostilities as in Australia, after the adoption of a similar law. “The Australian model also demonstrates that it is possible for these giants to continue to exist, even to make a lot of money, but by paying fairly and equitably for the news that is broadcast on their platform. »
On this subject, he hopes that as many media as possible will agree with the platforms, “in an ideal world, 100%” of them. The CRTC, to which it also entrusts the complex mission of judging the value of agreements between media and the dominant platforms – probably Google and Facebook – should not let them exclude small players. However, the government has no guarantee that the media will get the expected $150-200 million, he admits. “It’s the farthest we could go. »
Musician, reader and theater lover, Pablo Rodriguez says he is delighted to return to the Heritage portfolio, a position he already held in 2018, replacing Minister Mélanie Joly at short notice, then mired in justifying a tax holiday. for Netflix. He says he is enthusiastic to put his name on the three thematic bills of the Internet framework, which he describes as “transformational” for “future generations”. But which will also, for sure, have their share of controversies when the texts are debated in Parliament.
“Yes, the internet is beautiful, but there is a dark side to the internet. Sometimes it requires a government role. You have to be able to design that. »