CBC to stay in Bill C-18

Despite concerns about CBC/Radio-Canada muscling private media out of competition for advertising dollars in the news sector, the House of Commons Heritage committee defeated a Conservative amendment and will keep the public broadcaster included in the Online News Act. Under the act, also known as Bill C-18, CBC will still be able to bargain with tech platforms for remuneration after the Liberal MPs on the committee, with support from the Bloc Québécois, defeated the Conservative move to cut CBC out of the bill. Asked to provide the government's thinking on the inclusion of CBC in the bill, associate assistant deputy minister for cultural affairs Thomas Owen Ripley explained that if CBC wasn't included in the bill and couldn't bargain for compensation the same as other news outlets, then tech platforms might favour the CBC over other news outlets for its coverage. The government, Ripley said, "didn't want to create a situation where is indirectly incentivizing platforms to preference CBC/Radio-Canada content because it was on a different kind of footing than other kinds of news content in the sector." NDP MP Peter Julian, while saying he would vote against the larger clause out of concern for CBC's independence, criticized past Conservative governments under Stephen Harper for making cuts to the CBC. Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, a former sports broadcaster with BCE Inc.'s CTV Saskatoon, shot back "when Harper was in government they cut 10 per cent of the CBC's budget. I can tell you right now, Bell Media cut a hell of a lot more than 10 per cent." Waugh said that by including CBC in the bill, the broadcaster would get the "lion's share" of money from the government's mandated bargaining. The committee also passed an NDP amendment that served to specifically include indigenous news gathering organizations in the bill, which would – according to NDP MP Peter Julian – provide for "greater specificity in relation to the coverage of self-government and treaty rights." While voting to include the CBC and indigenous news outlets in the act's creation of mandated bargaining, the committee also voted to exclude others. After an amendment from Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, the committee voted to exclude media outlets from countries that are currently sanctioned by the Canadian government. He specifically cited Russia and China as countries whose media should be excluded from the bill. MPs also voted to clarify the rules around the inclusion of both CBC and provincial public broadcasters in the bargaining, and shield them from orders-in-council from a given cabinet. The committee also voted down an amendment that would have required news organizations to publish lists of their employed journalists. The NDP's Julian, who brought the amendment, argued that the amendment would increase transparency for news organizations set to benefit from the bargaining. Liberal MP Chris Bittle said he opposed the amendment because it "crosses the line" from regulating tech giants into regulating news organizations. Conservatives voted to support the NDP amendment, which ultimately failed by a single vote. -Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

CBC to stay in Bill C-18

News | December 6, 2022

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CBC to stay in Bill C-18

News | December 6, 2022

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