ISP tax possible as part of CanCon review, Joly says

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that imposing a tax on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to fund cultural content remains a possible outcome of her sweeping review of Canadian content in a digital age. “This is one of the scenarios that was presented during the public consultations. At the same time, I’m very much aware of the accessibility issue,” she said, noting the cost of telecommunications services, during a question-and-answer session with Policy Options editor-in-chief Jennifer Ditchburn at the International Institute of Communications’ (IIC) conference. When she was asked whether the idea of an ISP tax was still on the table, Joly responded that she didn’t want to “preclude any ideas at this point. At the same time, I want to make sure that the accessibility issue is top of mind.” Critics have argued that a move to tax ISPs could make affordability of Internet services a problem. Joly was also asked about the possibility of imposing sales tax on over-the-top (OTT) services like that offered by Netflix Inc., something representatives of Alphabet Inc.’s Google Canada argued against in front of a House of Commons committee Tuesday. “Your government has said fairly unequivocally that you wouldn’t go … levy a tax on Netflix or other streaming services,” Ditchburn said. “It seems to me kind of a no-brainer to collect GST. What’s so hard about that? Why not just do it?” Joly noted that issue has come up during the consultations, adding “I’ve certainly said many times that I’m willing to have a conversation with the streaming platforms to have them be a part of the system.” She said she’s also looking to how other countries are approaching the issue. Joly also confirmed the government is looking at the idea of merging the broadcasting and telecom acts as part of the review. “I’ve said that everything’s on the table,” she said. When it announced the consultation, the government said the whole cultural policy toolkit—which encompasses 26 agencies, policies, funding programs and institutions—was under review. “If we need to go and look into having new legislation, a new legislative approach, we’ll go there. This entire policy toolkit hasn’t been touched, looked into” in more than 20 years, she noted. Part of the review will involve deciding on the values that should govern the new toolkit, including determining “what do we think about the principle of net neutrality,” Joly added. Politicians have been afraid of getting into some of these issues, she said. “They’re scared to open the Broadcasting Act because the CBC/Radio-Canada mandate is in there. Hey, this is why I’m in politics. I’m here to have an impact.” The review is so comprehensive and wide-ranging because it’s not a topic that could be dealt with in silos, Joly said. “It doesn’t work,” she said. “You can’t renovate part of a house without fixing its entire plumbing.” Canada is “the first country in the world having such a consultation on digital. I think that because we are taking the lead we will be able to get our house in order … and ultimately a lot of good decision-making will have to be done also at the international level,” she noted. Joly also said that she hopes to launch the country’s first cultural export strategy, an initiative that was outlined the 2016 budget, and that among the content that would be included would be film, music, television, visual art, performance art, as well as video games and virtual reality. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca

ISP tax possible as part of CanCon review, Joly says

News | November 17, 2016

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ISP tax possible as part of CanCon review, Joly says

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