Joly ‘studying’ CRTC licence decision after criticism

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that she hasn’t yet decided whether to take any action regarding the CRTC’s May 15 licence renewal decision, following calls for the government to send it back to the commission. “I am studying the decision in order to determine what the repercussions will be for the audiovisual sector,” she said, noting the CRTC is an independent body. “Once I have concluded studying its impact I will make a decision.” She said in French, according to simultaneous translation: “I would invite content creators and artists to make their opinion known.” Though unrelated and previously scheduled, her appearance at the House of Commons heritage committee followed requests from both Quebec’s culture minister and NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel last week for the government to overturn the decision. The CRTC’s ruling previously faced criticism from groups like the Writer’s Guild of Canada (WGC), the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), and the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), which said new expenditure minimums set as part of the renewals could negatively affect production of Canadian content. The CRTC standardized the requirements for Canadian programming expenditures (CPEs) at 30 per cent and programs of national interest (PNIs) at five per cent, a move that lowered the requirements within some of the groups. At the committee Tuesday, Nantel told Joly she was “living dangerously.” “The whole industry is waiting for you to protect our cultural outreach,” he said. Nantel added in English that groups like the WGC, ACTRA and DGC have already expressed their opinion. “They are begging you for two weeks … they all ask you to have the CRTC reconsider this decision. You can do that now. They’ve already told you what they want you to do. How long does it take you to reconsider and report this decision to the CRTC?” Joly responded that the current government is “the most creator-focused government in 30 years. I understand the importance of this decision and that’s why I’m studying the impacts.” She also that the government’s review of the Copyright Act later this year will look at “the importance of fairness to creators, and protecting for creators will be something we’ll be putting forward.” On Saturday in a French press release, Luc Fortin, Quebec’s minister of culture and communications, asked to Joly to use her power under the Broadcasting Act to obtain the “re-examination” and “cancellation” of the decision. In a letter to the minister Friday, Nantel asked Joly to send the decision back and also to issue a policy direction to the CRTC for a “moratorium on all major CRTC decisions that will affect our arts and culture industries” until the conclusion of Heritage’s ongoing review of Canadian content in a digital age. Last week, Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi said in a research note that pressure from Quebec over cultural protections could affect Joly’s decision in that process regarding taxing foreign online platforms. Noting that CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais’ mandate ends in June, Nantel argued in his letter that Blais “should have had the decency to wait for your report instead of making up his own policy on the back on a napkin.” Nantel also said that the decision has already had “serious consequences,” given that days after it was issued “three original TV productions were abruptly shut down in Quebec, with many more to come across Canada.” He added: “Canada’s TV industry, which makes the Canadian content we see on our screens, is preparing for violent losses.” In an emailed statement from the commission Monday, CRTC spokesman Eric Rancourt said that some of the arguments being made about the effect of the decision are incorrect. For instance, in his letter, Fortin gave the example that the decision will take away the obligation of Corus Entertainment Inc.’s' Series+ to invest $1.5 million annually into original French-language dramas. Rancourt said that the CRTC “replaced this service’s licence condition of $1.5 million per year in expenditures on original programming with new conditions that will require Séries+ to dedicate potentially more than $7.8 million per year to acquire or produce French-language Canadian content. Out of that amount, more than $4.5 million could be specifically devoted to drama, comedy, musical or variety shows, per year.” He added that in total, “for the four large groups, more than $1.1 billion will be invested in French-language Canadian programming over the next five years, including $460 million for drama, comedy, musical or variety shows.” Fortin’s press release also said that the decision could encourage companies to use more dubbed English-language series on their French-language specialty channels, “to the detriment of the production of original Canadian French-language series.” The CRTC’s statement said “it is impossible for the dubbing costs to be enough to enable the groups to meet their expenditure requirements. The groups will have to invest in new Canadian French-language productions specifically for Quebec and the other French-Canadian communities.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca

Joly ‘studying’ CRTC licence decision after criticism

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Joly ‘studying’ CRTC licence decision after criticism

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