Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez coldly welcomed a Senate committee’s proposal to ban Radio-Canada’s sponsored content service Tandem, included in about a dozen proposed amendments to his Broadcasting Act.
“For the reader, or the listener, it’s confusing. I had no choice but to vote for the banning of this kind of advertising, “explained to the To have to former journalist and former Radio-Canada ombudsman Julie Miville-Dechêne, now an independent senator.
The Senate Transport and Communications Committee released its report on Wednesday detailing the twelve amendments to the text of the reform of the Broadcasting Act (C-11). The bill was sent to the Upper House last June. It is expected to return to the Commons after passing third reading in the Senate in February 2023.
Among the proposals retained is the prohibition for Radio-Canada to issue advertisements disguised as articles, or the obligation for pornographic sites to verify the age of their audience. Above all, the senators who are members of the committee agreed to specify that only professional music on YouTube would be covered by a controversial article of the text of C-11.
“I’m not sure what he’s doing in that bill, [l’amendement] on Radio-Canada”, simply commented Pablo Rodriguez at the entrance to the last meeting of the year with the cabinet of federal ministers, Thursday. He declined to comment on the other proposed changes.
Since its inception in 2020, the Tandem program has been seen by its critics as a service for creating advertisements disguised as articles. Radio-Canada denounced “disturbing interference in the activities of an independent public broadcaster” by the Senate.
The Trudeau government will have to decide after the holidays if it opposes the compromise reached by the Senate between supporters and opponents of C-11 on the subject of content uploaded to YouTube by simple Internet users.
An amendment proposed by Senators Julie Miville-Dechêne and Paula Simons narrows the scope of content to be regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Essentially, only songs that can be played on the radio would now be affected.
Minister Rodriguez has repeatedly assured that the content of simple Internet users, such as those of youtubers or influencers, would not be affected by C-11. The text of the law, however, has been interpreted inversely by its critics. The conservative opposition even saw it as an attack on freedom of expression.
“The way the bill was written, it left a lot of room for interpretation,” explains Senator Miville-Dechêne. She says she wants to reassure the many “anxious” stakeholders not knowing whether or not they should comply with the new law.
For platforms
Platforms like YouTube have campaigned against the idea of showcasing Canadian content on the web. They argue that their algorithm, kept secret, would detract an artist from its charts if it were to be put forward to an unreceptive Canadian public.
The position of the Senate is “an effort to try to please the platforms”, denounces the director general of the Association of music publishing professionals, Jérôme Payette, who preferred the original version of the text.
Minister Pablo Rodriguez explained Thursday that he must discuss the senatorial proposals with the other parties, given the context of a minority government. “I think it should be pretty quick,” he promised.
The Bloc Québécois, which has been an ally of the Trudeau government in this file to speed up the procedures in the Commons, wants the file to be concluded quickly. Asked about this on Wednesday, its leader Yves-François Blanchet attacked the legitimacy of unelected senators.