UPDATED – Rodriguez back as Heritage minister, Champagne remains in Innovation

OTTAWA -- MP Pablo Rodriguez is back in familiar territory as he is once again appointed the Minister of Canadian Heritage. The news came in a Tuesday press release a few hours before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet were set to be sworn in. Rodriguez will be taking over from MP Steven Guilbeault -- who is set to become the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. During his former time as Heritage minister, Rodriguez promised to regulate and place Canadian content requirements on foreign digital players like streaming giant Netflix Inc. Rodriguez was first elected to parliament in 2004 for the Quebec riding of Honoré-Mercier. He served as a member of the Heritage committee during his first years in parliament and as vice-chair of the committee. From 2009 to 2011 he served as Heritage critic until he was defeated by NDP MP Paulina Ayala in the 2011 election. In 2015 Rodriguez was re-elected to parliament and promoted in 2018 to Minister of Canadian Heritage in a cabinet shuffle where he replaced Mélanie Joly. Guilbeault took over for his fellow Montreal MP in Nov. 2019 when Rodriguez was appointed House leader. Guilbeault’s time in the House can be seen as a rocky one after he received criticism for not knowing what was in his own revised Broadcasting Act, known as Bill C-10. Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, who supported the bill, criticized the government for delaying work on the bill which died on the Senate floor when the election was called. The Liberal government, in its 2021 election platform said it planned to introduce legislation that dealt with online harms and broadcasting reform within the first 100 days of its mandate. With another minority government, it remains to be seen if they can get it done. During the last parliamentary session, the Liberals, with the support of the Bloc, placed what opposition parties called a “gag order” on both the Heritage committee and the House of Commons to limit debate on Bill C-10 in an attempt to pass it before the end of the session and circumvent Conservative filibustering. At a Rideau Hall press conference Tuesday, Rodriguez declined to say whether or not the Government would take the same approach to regulating social media platforms like Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube in any future efforts to update the Broadcasting Act. "We need that bill, we have to modernize it. It predates the internet," Rodriguez said. Responding to a question from The Logic, Rodriguez also declined to give any further information about whether or not the Government would rework the proposed online harms legislation, simply saying that his department would be "consulting." In a statement, the Canadian Media Producers Association congratulated Rodriguez on the appointment. "We are encouraged by today’s appointment and look forward to working closely with the Minister as he and the government follow through on campaign commitments to swiftly update the Broadcasting Act," the CRTC said in a release. Joining Rodriguez in the cabinet is MP François-Philippe Champagne who will keep his role as the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. Trudeau named Champagne the new Innovation Minister in January when then-minister Navdeep Bains announced he wouldn’t be seeking reelection. Prior to that Champagne served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and was Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, as well as Minister of International Trade. Champagne’s time as innovation minister remained relatively uncontroversial. However, telecommunications industry stakeholders have criticized the government for prioritizing broadcasting reform over reforms to the Telecommunications Act. Champagne will also have to deal with a formal petition before the cabinet asking the Liberal government to overturn the CRTC’s decision to reverse wholesale high-speed internet access rates and remove Scott as chair. — Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

UPDATED – Rodriguez back as Heritage minister, Champagne remains in Innovation

News | October 26, 2021

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UPDATED – Rodriguez back as Heritage minister, Champagne remains in Innovation

News | October 26, 2021

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