Bill C-10: What Impact Will This Legislation Have on Canadian Digital Content Producers and Content Discoverability?

On June 28, 2021 Senator Omidvar asked Senator Dasko and Senator Miville-Dechêne about their speeches on Bill C-10, An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts.

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Thank you, Senator Dasko, for that very thoughtful and factual speech about what Bill C-10 is and what it is not. I really appreciated that deconstruction. You posed a number of questions that you think are important for the committee to answer.

In my review of the legislation, I’m struck by one strand of thinking, whether it’s articulated or not, and it is this: When the bill refers to Canadian content, it is talking primarily about legacy mediums, such as music, cinema, et cetera. What about digital content creation that is really spurring Canadians to innovate?

There is an artist in Ottawa, in fact, Laura Kelly, who has generated 18 million followers of her art over the pandemic and she’s prolifically selling across the world, not just in Canada. How will Canadian digital content producers be supported through this new legislation?

Senator Dasko: Senator Omidvar, thank you for that question.

What the bill does is it extends requirements to support Canadian content across other platforms. Right now, when you refer to traditional media, what we are talking about are the requirements that traditional media have to produce Canadian content. For example, when it comes to, let’s say, broadcast television, they have to present Canadian content at certain times of the day, a certain percentage of their material and programming has to be Canadian content and they are required to spend a certain percentage of their revenues on Canadian content or Canadian productions. This is going to extend that to online platforms.

Senator Omidvar: Thank you, Senator Miville-Dechêne. I really appreciated your comments.

I have a question about discoverability. It’s a new word for new times, and I get that. However, are you not concerned that the CRTC will become the cultural arbiter for Canada, deciding what is discoverable and what is not? Beauty, after all, lies in the eyes of the beholder, who is the consumer in this case.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: You asked a good question that does not have a simple answer, senator. Certain decisions are already made in our existing broadcasting system, since broadcasters are required to broadcast a percentage of Canadian content during certain hours. It is all well and good to say that Canada can showcase itself around the world, but the United States is our neighbour. Protecting Canadian content, in both English and French, has always been considered important to helping our culture thrive and be seen by Canadians.

This bill attempts to do some things, and I think we need to study it in committee to see whether it is possible to do those things. Discoverability is one of the tools we can use to try to influence what people watch. We know that young people no longer watch Canadian content on TV. Instead, they watch Netflix and other digital platforms. The purpose of the bill is precisely to ensure that these young people have access to Canadian content. I don’t think that it’s a form of censorship. It’s more a matter of shaking things up.

At present, the platforms pick the winners and the losers. There is nothing neutral about how these algorithms are designed. The idea is to put forward what represents us, that is, our culture and the French language. That is one element I wanted to focus on in my speech. French culture in North America is an altogether different matter. I hope to be able to strike a balance.

You are right when you say that this may seem worrisome. This isn’t new to Europe, which has been giving serious consideration to these issues precisely to ensure that its own cultures can be visible on these platforms.

Senator Omidvar: I have a supplementary question. Senator, do you know of another jurisdiction that uses discoverability in this way?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: I have not studied that at length. From what I understand, Europe has made the most progress in this area. I believe that Germany requires transparency with respect to the algorithms and their criteria. It wants to know whether consumers can choose programming by origin with these algorithms. It is one of the countries that goes the furthest on this issue.

I know that this is being studied seriously around the world, but I don’t believe that, to date, all the measures that can be put in place have been implemented.