Streaming giants open to strengthened Canadian content rules, says heritage minister

Each week, Cross Country Checkup devotes the program's last half hour to an interview with a high-profile newsmaker, celebrity, thinker or cultural figure who takes calls from listeners.

Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guibeault says his department will study recent recommendations made by an independent panel on Canadian content rules for streaming services, and funding for the CBC but decisions have yet to be made.

"I may have to go back to the panel on some of those elements to make sure that I personally, and we, clearly understand what the rationale was behind some of these proposal[s]," he told Cross Country Checkup host Duncan McCue on Sunday.

The recently appointed minister took calls from Checkup listeners in a half-hour Ask Me Anything segment.

The conversation comes on the heels of a new report that recommends Ottawa place greater regulations on streaming media services and end advertising on CBC platforms, among other suggestions.

That report was commissioned by the federal government and drafted by a seven-member panel led by Janet Yale, a broadcasting and telecommunications industry veteran.

On streaming Canadian content

The panel's report calls on Ottawa to require streaming media companies to "devote a portion of their program budgets to Canadian programs."

According to Guilbeault, several companies are already investing "hundreds of millions and probably more" in Canada. "We're not asking them to do more than what they're doing now," he said.

He likens the recommendation to similar CanCon rules already in place for traditional broadcasters, including the CBC.

He adds that while they've yet to confirm the details on any agreements, that his department has already met with companies that have expressed an "openness to sit down at the table and be part of that conversation."

With respect to taxing streaming services, Guilbeault told Checkup that calls for streaming media companies to pay HST and GST is a matter of "fairness," and that such a move will likely be part of the next federal budget.

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On re-imagining the CRTC

A controversial recommendation in the panel's report suggests that the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), a broadcast and telecommunications regulatory body, be strengthened and make all media providers subject to its jurisdiction.

That includes a recommendation that the CRTC play a role in deciding reliable and trustworthy news sources.

Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa professor and the Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, told Checkup the recommendation "strikes me as really fundamentally wrong in an open democratic society."

Guilbeault said that the report's contents are "not public policy."

"I think people are reading more into this proposal than what's there really," he said.

"Canada is not about to take over the World Wide Web. I mean, we fundamentally believe in the importance of having an internet that is neutral."

On CBC's funding and mandate

The report calls for CBC/Radio-Canada to become a fully-funded public broadcaster free of advertising.

Guilbeault wouldn't say whether the government would remove advertising, but said there are "pros and cons."

"I cannot see a federal government saying, 'Well, OK, let's make CBC ad free,' but then not compensate," he said, adding that he believes a "well-funded" public broadcaster is "one key element of the health of our democracy."

Responding to a listener question about long-term funding for the CBC, Guilbeault says that he worries about making the broadcaster fully dependent on government funding.

"There are chances that and we've seen it in the not so distant past where governments who are not very sympathetic to CBC could come and decide to cut part, and maybe [a] large part, of its funding. So it is clearly a weakness, I would argue, in that proposal."

In a statement, CBC/Radio-Canada toldCheckup:"Asking for an additional $300Min public funding just to remove advertising from our platforms is not our priority. We would much rather invest any additional resources on programs and services that benefit Canadians."

Written by Jason Vermes with files from CBC News. Segment produced by Richard Raycraft.

To hear the full segment with Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault, download our podcast or click Listen above.