SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Rachael Thomas

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Lethbridge
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 64%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $131,565.29

  • Government Page
  • Mar/27/23 1:26:54 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to repeat a part of my speech. I do not know if the hon. member caught it, so I will just clarify for him. Right now, we have just one production company in this nation that is responsible for 50% of all production in Canada. Furthermore, it invests over $5 billion, supporting over 200,000 jobs and over 47,000 Canadian businesses. The stats that I just listed are from 2021, and things only got better in 2022. Let us imagine that. Let us take his question, then, at face value. He is saying, well, what about Rogers, Vidéotron and Bell? Let us add CBC to the mix, shall we? What the government plans to do is get about $1 billion through its legislation. It thinks that this will match what these large broadcasters are putting into the fund. Do we want $1 billion or $5 billion? We could have $1 billion through this legislation or $5 billion without it. I am not a mathematician but I have the ability to quickly do the math on this one. It shows that if we allow freedom to reign, we are five times better.
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  • Mar/8/23 6:19:32 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Madam Speaker, again, I would just remind the House who said that. A big union said that, at the behest of traditional broadcasters. Of course they want this bill. It supports them. It results in dollars in their pockets. It results in keeping them alive. Of course they want this bill. Is it artists who are saying that they want this bill? Nope, they are not. Individual artists do not want this bill.
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  • Mar/8/23 6:17:32 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Madam Speaker, I actually really appreciate the opportunity to extend a sincere apology. I used the word “artists”. All of that was not quoted exactly correctly, but nevertheless I will own the notion. I used the word “artists” and I really should not have. I regret that. Those artists are working hard to create fantastic content for this country, and I respect that deeply. What this bill comes down to is actually the traditional broadcasters and the big union bosses. Unfortunately, I do not think those two entities are fighting rightly on behalf of artists, the tremendous work they are putting into developing themselves, and their incredible talent and ability to grow themselves and be successful based on their own merit. I do not think we give that enough weight. I wish we would. I wish we would—
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  • May/11/22 2:44:30 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Mr. Speaker, once again, the Prime Minister has proved he is either incompetent or absolutely committed to misleading Canadians every step of the way. He continues to do this over and over again. The fact of the matter is that Bill C-11 would actually tip the scales in favour of traditional broadcasters by punishing digital-first creators, artists and those who use TikTok, YouTube, Twitch or Spotify in order to get their message out. Somehow, magically, this is supposed to protect Canadian culture. “Punish the little guys; reward the big guys” is the plan here. Why does the Prime Minister insist on punishing digital-first creators?
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  • May/11/22 2:43:06 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-11 
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister continues to mislead Canadians. He tells them that Bill C-11 will level the playing field. What he means by this is actually that digital-first creators, those who produce on YouTube, TikTok or Twitch, are too successful, so they actually need to be held back through more regulation and by putting fees on top of them. Digital-first creators would be forced to subsidize commercial broadcasters. I will let that sink in for one moment: The government's definition of levelling the playing field looks like punishing those who are successful, so they can be equal with those who are not. How is that fair?
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