44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 30, 2023 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, the Senate spent 83 hours of its time looking at the bill, and House of Commons committees spent 56 hours on it. As we mentioned earlier, this is the longest-ever amount of time the Senate has spent on the study of a particular bill. That is why we are so proud and so pleased about the enormous amount of work that people in the House and the other chamber did over the last months and years. It is why we look forward to moving on with the bill.
Artists, musicians and cultural communities in Canada need our support, and that is why we are so proud to be able to provide it to them.
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Madam Speaker, I cannot tell the hon. minister how distressed I am to see the hon. Minister of Health defending closure on debate on a bill that has nothing to do with his portfolio. Everything about closure offends basic democracy within Parliament.
I have said this before, and I will say it again. When I was first elected in 2011, I watched the then Conservative majority start the process of using closure on almost every bill. Sitting over there, my colleagues in the Liberal Party and I bemoaned and railed against this horrible abuse of our democratic process in Parliament. They did so only to turn around and use closure as often and then more often than the previous government did.
I do not particularly enjoy the debate on Bill C-11. It is not a battle of wits but a disinformation campaign versus facts. However, the reality is that every MP in this place has a right to debate, and closure is wrong.
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Madam Speaker, I think we all regret that too. We would prefer to be able to move on a different path with the Conservative opposition, as has been mentioned by the Bloc and the NDP, and as the leader of the Green Party just reminded us. This is unfortunate, but that is the only path to helping Canadians and artists in our communities go forward in a challenging world. Social media, modern technology and all that can support cultural development in Canada, but it needs to be done in a manner that is adapted to the reality of the 21st century.
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Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that the bill is a disaster. Liberals have been flailing away with it for months. They tried it in the last Parliament. They steadfastly refuse to exempt user-uploaded content. It has been to the Senate; indeed, as the minister said in his remarks, the Senate spent a record amount of time debating this bill because it is a disaster. The bill needed the 20-odd amendments that were sent back, which still do not even fix it, and the government is ramming it back and just accepting a few of the amendments.
Can the member not grasp, or does he not agree, that a bill that required this much extra work to fix it within the Senate should at least, at a minimum, continue to be debated here and referred to a committee in the House of Commons? Then we could maybe have a chance to cobble this together into something that is not the disaster it is.
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Madam Speaker, the member is right in pointing to the important work the Senate did. It is why a very large number of the amendments the Senate is proposing are being approved and accepted by the government. We look forward to moving forward with them. That is why, as has also been said, we are grateful for its work and the 83 hours of time it spent on the bill. It is a very important bill; the member is correct. It had to have specific efforts and time to—
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- Mar/30/23 10:43:25 a.m.
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I just want to remind the hon. member that while someone has the floor, it is not proper to interrupt. I also indicated this a while ago. If the hon. member has questions and comments, she should wait until it is time for questions and comments and attempt to be recognized.
The hon. minister can continue.
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You still reject those amendments.
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Madam Speaker, the member who was speaking is totally right to be able to focus her attention on that.
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I look forward to more questions from her, as she keeps speaking as I try to answer the other person's question. It is fair and fine that this is happening. It is a right of all members of this House to speak at the appropriate time, as the Speaker just said, and I look forward to answering more questions.
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Madam Speaker, it is an honour and privilege to be able to rise in this discussion.
I was just at the first-ever Qualicum Beach Film Festival. It was led by a grade 12 student in my riding. It just shows the opportunity for film and the importance of media in our communities. In fact, in Qualicum Beach, there is $18 million being spent in the film sector alone. The opportunity is endless, but they are playing at an unfair advantage.
Groups across the country, such as the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, FRIENDS of Canadian broadcasting, the Writers Guild of Canada and the Canadian Media Producers Association, are getting behind this bill and calling for action.
There have been delays. We hear Conservatives say that this bill is a disaster and everything is broken. Some things are broken. This is something that is broken, and it needs to be fixed. We are here to fix things. Instead of wanting to fix things, Conservatives want to keep things broken. They want to tear it down.
We need to move forward. Can the minister speak about the sense of urgency there is to support Canadian producers?
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Madam Speaker, the member for Courtenay—Alberni said it really well. There are challenges, pressures and stressors that cultural communities, artists, musicians and others in our communities face. We know how hard-working they are, but they are working in a different environment now in 2023 than they were in the 20th century. That is why, as he rightly says, fixing things is absolutely essential. That is why we are so proud and so grateful for his efforts in trying to support his community, including the diverse community of artists in his riding, and in mine as well.
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Madam Speaker, we talked earlier about Quebec's demands. This is a very important subject.
Quebec's demands are extremely important, even Quebec has not communicated them to all the parties and to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is studying the bill. We are preparing to vote, under a gag order, on a bill that will have a significant impact on broadcasting in Quebec and on Quebec culture. Quebec is making a legitimate demand. It is asking that Quebec be consulted on all matters relating to francophone broadcasting and culture.
How will the government respond to these very legitimate demands from Quebec, even though we are passing Bill C‑11 under a gag order?
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Madam Speaker, I again thank my colleague from Drummond for all he is doing and for his kind words about the artists and arts community in Quebec, including in my riding of Quebec City.
The actors, screenwriters, composers, technicians, musicians, all the people who bring our culture to life in Quebec and make it vibrant have said that they support this bill and want it to move forward.
With respect to collaboration with the Government of Quebec, it is not just about consultation. As I mentioned earlier, it is about collaborating with the Government of Quebec. We have different roles and different responsibilities, but we all have the same goal, and that is to support our artists across Canada, including in Quebec.
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Madam Speaker, my question actually comes on the heels of the question from the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands. The reality is that we are seeing a tremendous amount of disinformation coming from Conservatives within the House.
As a matter of fact, this is what the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands said after listening to the member for Oshawa on Monday night. She said:
Madam Speaker, as the hon. member for Oshawa was speaking, all I could think is that somewhere there is a Liberal war room clipping all of that to use in ads to make sure no one votes Conservative.
The reality is that we have heard misinformation and disinformation, time after time, with a total of 29 speeches from Conservatives at second reading and another 19 at the current stage we are in. Conservatives are just trying to slow this down.
Despite the fact that I empathize with the member for Saanich—Gulf Islands in the concern she raised, she knows just as well as everybody else in the House that the bill will not move forward unless one of two things happens: we invoke closure or we change the rules so that they do not allow this endless disinformation and misinformation campaign to continue.
Could the minister comment on that?
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Madam Speaker, it is indeed troubling. We live in a world in which we should be able to speak about facts, and in the process, reassure Canadians that this is done for the right purposes and in a manner that is supported by so many artists and artists' representatives in Canada.
It is sad, as the Green Party leader also said earlier. However, as the parliamentary secretary mentioned, we can either do nothing or move forward.
Doing nothing would be unacceptable in the context of the 21st century.
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Madam Speaker, before I begin, I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that when we are calling on people to ask questions, we look at the proportionate representation that we have in the House for those who are standing and asking questions on the opposition side.
First of all, I want to comment that this is shutting down debate on Bill C-11.
Yes, there were comments that this has spent a lot of time in both the House and the Senate. However, that is because the bill was so poorly planned and poorly written. That is why there has been so much debate and so many amendments on the bill: It is just so awful.
What has happened now, just to make it really clear, is that the amendments have come to the House, but the government has turned down those amendments going to committee. Therefore, there is no opportunity for the public to comment on any of the amendments.
It is also very interesting that the minister who is here answering questions today on Bill C-11, a Broadcasting Act and Internet-related bill, is the health minister.
Rather than listening to all the people who had testified on this, all the digital content creators, the experts or the academics, he commented that his response was solely about how this would help organizations in his riding. That was very interesting.
My question is: Why are you shutting down debate and not allowing this to go to committee so that you can hear from Canadians?
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- Mar/30/23 10:51:31 a.m.
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I will remind the member I am not shutting down the debate.
The hon. minister.
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Madam Speaker, I sure the member for Kelowna—Lake Country is very proud of her riding too. That is why I sometimes speak about my riding. Although I am the Minister of Health, more important, I am a proud representative of the Quebec City area and the member of Parliament for Québec.
She is right to point to the fact that we have spent, and are spending, enormous amounts of time on this bill in the House and in the other chamber. We have spent a total of 56 hours in the House of Commons, including in committee, and 83 hours in the Senate.
As the parliamentary secretary said a moment ago, we have heard almost 50 different speeches from Conservative MPs. We congratulate them for speaking so much on this bill. We know it is a concern for everyone and we are grateful for everyone's contributions.
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Mr. Speaker, it is completely exhausting to hear the Conservatives continue to spread misinformation and disinformation, and then campaign and fund raise off this misinformation. This is a theme that we hear over and over again. This is most definitely the case right now.
Could the member share his thoughts on why we are not seeing the Conservatives apply the work that needs to be done to ensure we are protecting Canadian artists? What are the impacts on Canadians across the country, who are set up for failure in a system stacked against them? Instead, it could be providing opportunities for Canadian artists to show off their amazing talents across our country.
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