Liberals pause move for new charter analysis of C-10

A House of Commons Heritage committee debate on whether or not to have the Government's update to the broadcasting Broadcasting Act sent back to the Minister of Justice for charter compliance review -- after it removed a clause that critics feel would bring individual social media users content under regulation and hinder their freedom of expression -- was put on hold after Liberals moved to adjourn the debate. Meanwhile a stakeholder in the music sector is disappointed to see some MPs “trying to make political gains” over prioritizing the cultural sector. Last Friday the committee moved to remove an exemption for content posted on social media sites, from regulation, paving the way for content uploaded to social media sites like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Youtube to come under the remit of the CRTC The original stricken clause -- commonly referred to by the name 4.1 -- had said that the Broadcasting Act would not apply to “programs that are uploaded to an online undertaking that provides a social media service by a user of the service — who is not the provider of the service or the provider’s affiliate, or the agent or mandatary of either of them — for transmission over the Internet and reception by other users of the service.” The move drew much attention from both supporters and critics of the bill as they debated on whether or not it infringed on individual rights to freedom of expression. Jérôme Payette, general director of Association des professionnels de l'édition musicale, welcomed the removal of the section and believes much of the controversy is coming from misinformation being circulated on what the removal actually means for everyday social media users -- which he argued is not much. “User-generated content under the bill includes content put online by labels managers, music publishers or artists themselves,” he said. “The removal of 4.1 was to make sure that the same law applies to all companies that broadcast cultural content. … We’re only interested in professional activities, not in cat videos.” Payette said that YouTube has become the number one music service platform and without the removal of section 4.1, services like Spotify AB or Apple Inc.'s Music would “unfairly” be subject to regulation. Payette said he is “not at all” concerned that the removal of 4.1 would open up a venue for everyday users to have their content regulated. “It’s disappointing seeing people having false information and taking positions that are against the cultural sector while we're in the middle of a pandemic, and we don't get that much from online services already. I'm disappointed to see that some people are just trying to make political games with this story, at the expense of the cultural sector,” he said. He noted that once the act is passed, it is up to the CRTC to put regulations in place and the commission “has to take into account the nature of the service and its impact on the creation and production industry, nothing else and has to interpret the act to grant freedom of expression.” At Friday’s committee meeting, Conservative MP Rachael Harder, who is not an official member of the committee, brought forward a motion to the table requesting that “the Minister of Justice produce an updated charter statement under Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act, with respect to the potential effects of Bill C-10, as amended to date on the rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;” to “invite the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister of Justice to appear before the committee to discuss the implications of Bill C-10” and to “suspend cause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-10” until the two former conditions are met. In her preamble to the motion, Harder stated that the removal of section 4.1 “changed the nature of this bill” and that the committee needed to seek if the rights of Canadians were “in fact being respected within the new outline provided within this bill.” Liberal MP Julie Dabrusin noted that there was a “clear exclusion” in the bill that has already been passed by the committee which excludes individuals posting to social media from C-10. “I need to make that absolutely clear. There is an exclusion for individuals posting content to social media, beyond that, the Broadcasting Act does not cover content. This is not about moderating content,” she said. She then noted that the committee was also in the middle of clause-by-clause amendments, and it would be “premature” to review the impact of the bill before it was completed. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather echoed her concerns, and added that charter statements were implemented to “inform parliamentary and public debate” and “reflect the bill at the time of introduction and are not updated” nor are they legal opinions. Conservative MP Scott Aitchison Scott Aitchison called Harder’s motion “a reasonable compromise." “I think that was (the removal) is doing is pushing the regulatory impacts on users and actually shifting that to the programs themselves,” he said. -- Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Liberals pause move for new charter analysis of C-10

News | 04/30/2021 7:09 pm EDT

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