Senator Tannas: As Mr. Menzies was speaking, I was reminded of this old saying that I heard: “There is no problem that the government can’t make more complicated.” It also comes as a bit of a Canadian thing. There are many times when we can’t seem to go straight at things without complicating it a little bit in our rush to be nice, to be thorough, to be complete, to be fair or to make sure we don’t miss something.

The point of this bill — based on what we were told, and what I was told in the briefing from the government — was to make sure that the streaming services begin paying significant amounts of money into the funds to support artists across the country, as cable companies and other more traditional media fade away.

The majority of the concerns that I’ve heard, both at committee and in this chamber, are around potential issues that are outside that stated reason for the bill. The questions are as follows: Will small, specialized streaming services withdraw from Canada? Will user-generated content, producers and creators face interference? Will algorithms be co-opted by government to force us to somehow consume artistic product that is not of our choosing?

We received assurances — at committee from government witnesses, and in this chamber from senators — that our worries are not valid. We have actually inserted — thanks to the efforts of committee members — some amendments to help assure ourselves around that.

Yet still to come are the publishing of regulations and the CRTC actions in the future. We need to watch and ensure that our nightmares don’t become a reality. Much of the success — or failure — of the bill depends on the transformation of the current CRTC, and the shift to a more nimble regulator, as nothing kills innovation like delay.

I believe that the Senate will have a continuing and vital role to play with this bill over the next few years. I urge the Transport and Communications Committee to consider emulating the long-standing practice of the Banking Committee which regularly and systematically interacts with the Governor of the Bank of Canada.

We’ve heard, and it’s well-known, that this practice was welcomed by previous governors as being an excellent exercise in the exchange of ideas, as well as a personal responsibility-and-accountability exercise for the governor in a unique environment. We’ve heard similar comments from the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in the past at the Banking Committee — I’ve been involved with that; it’s a great exercise, and it’s one that should be emulated with the Transport and Communications Committee through frequent meetings with the chair of the CRTC, through the regulatory process and the execution process. It would be extremely valuable.

After the work that we did, the 100-plus witnesses we heard and the thousands of messages that we got from concerned Canadians across the country, that is the least we can do — to ensure that this bill is implemented in the way that we all have been given to understand that it will be implemented. Thank you.

[Translation]

Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators,

Four strong winds that blow lonely

Seven seas that run high

All those things that don’t change come what may

But our good times are all gone

And I’m bound for movin’ on

I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way.

These words are the chorus of a classic Canadian song, “Four Strong Winds,” written by Ian Tyson and first recorded by Ian and his wife, Sylvia Fricker, simply known to Canadians as Ian & Sylvia.

On December 29, Ian Tyson passed away and Canada lost a folk and country music icon.

He was a transplanted Alberta country singer-songwriter, who began by teaching himself to play the guitar while in hospital following a rodeo accident.

His music career began in the late 1950s when he joined the folk music scene in Toronto. He met his music and life partner Sylvia, and they formed a duo and recorded 13 albums.

The couple broke up, both professionally and personally, in 1975, and Ian moved back to Alberta to continue his music as a solo artist. He set about also to live his dream of owning a cattle ranch in the southern Alberta foothills and being a cowboy. He worked to gain the respect of both his fellow ranchers and environmentalists as an advocate of land stewardship and conservation.

Meanwhile, his music took a greater country feeling to it and he continued to write and record until 2015.

Ian Tyson was a Member of the Order of Canada and a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.

For his fans, “Four Strong Winds” will always be their favourite.

On a personal note, over the last 40 years, Ian became a familiar figure in my hometown of High River, which is about 20 miles from his ranch. He was humble. He was generous with both his time and his money. There’s a funny story that circulated for years in High River of a retail clerk — a young lady — who saw the name Ian Tyson on the credit card and said to him, “You look a lot like the famous Ian Tyson.” He said, “I get that a lot, but I don’t think I look like him anymore.”

To his family and all his fans, he will be deeply missed, but his music, which honours his Western roots, will live on always.

[Translation]

Hon. Scott Tannas: Honourable senators, first, I want to thank the committee for the dozens of hours that they put into this bill, and for the care and attention that they gave to the many witnesses. I attended some — but nowhere near all — of the committee meetings during both the witness phase and the clause-by-clause phase.

I was pleased that the committee made some quite consequential amendments. As a result, I support the bill being sent back to the House of Commons. I think it reflects well upon our obligation for sober second thought.

Now, having followed the committee, received briefings and listened to the excellent speeches in this chamber thus far — and there are more to come — I want to put on the record some of my thoughts and concerns.

First, I was struck by the testimony of Peter Menzies — he is an eminent journalist, a media executive and a former vice-chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC — on the intentions of the bill. I agree, based on the briefings, with what he thought was the intention of the bill. He said:

. . . this is what the ministers were saying right from the beginning. The intent was to make sure the system gets money from web giants.

If that’s the problem, my suggestion is to just address that problem. There is no need to get into user-generated content and all these other areas, and start dealing with small businesses, advancing businesses or people taking advantage of the beauty and wonder of the internet and finding success. There’s no need to shut that down.

If it’s the traditional funds that you are after and the big web giants, just focus on that.