Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Would Senator Gold agree to take a question?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: I think legislation certainly needs to be as clear as possible, but it also needs to send a clear message. What came out in our hearings and, as you know, was very telling, is the fear that content creators have, those who create user-generated content. They are afraid that they are going to be covered under Bill C-11.

Unfortunately, the amendment as it’s currently drafted leaves a huge amount of uncertainty, particularly in terms of who will be covered. Is it anyone who makes money? Everyone knows that user-generated content allows small creators to earn an income.

How do you plan on reassuring those creators, considering they have been very clear about their fears? We’re talking about people who want to make a living. Just like the musicians who are opposed to this amendment, content creators exist and they feel that this amendment is unclear. Personally, I have to tell you that in reading it, I don’t find it particularly clear either.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Like you, Senator Gold, I take my work in the Senate very seriously. I believe in the principle of restraint that you talked about and that you explained in your speech.

As you know, Bill C-11 is very important to me when it comes to defending francophone and Indigenous minorities in Canada. We will see what comes of all this, but the idea is to try to defend minority languages. In that sense, I’m of the opinion that Bill C-11 is more important than my two amendments that were rejected. However, as a former journalist, I care a lot about facts and, quite frankly, I didn’t understand what you were getting at when you criticized the amendment to subsection 4.2(2). I will just mention one point that made my hair stand on end.

You said that sports games that are rebroadcast on platforms like YouTube will not be able to be taxed or used to help fund our culture. However, that isn’t at all the case because when we rewrote the amendment, we specifically kept paragraph (c), which indicates that we can include the fact that the program or a significant part of it has been broadcast by a broadcasting undertaking that is required to be carried on under a licence — as is the case with sports — or is required to be registered with the CRTC but does not provide a social media service.

I simply don’t understand how you can say that a loophole is being created and that we won’t be able to include sports at all in Bill C-11. It’s quite clear that this is part of the amendment.