Joly not afraid of change following cultural review

OTTAWA — If Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly was clear about anything during a Thursday afternoon appearance at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) Prime Time in Ottawa conference, it was that the only constant in the country’s cultural toolkit was an adherence to a Canadian social contract. “We need to be clear in terms of where we want to go. And … we know that first of all we need to balance the social impact and the economic impact. And in terms of the social impact, we have a clear social contract in this country,” Joly said, responding to a question from CMPA president Reynolds Mastin about whether it’s “really possible to modernize our federal cultural toolkit without creating winners and losers.” That social contract is based on three pillars, Joly explained: the importance of both the English- and French-speaking markets, recognizing minority voices and reconciling with indigenous people. When pressed afterwards by reporters on her answer and if coming regulations could cause some harm, Joly reiterated the importance of this social contract, but said it’s also up to the government to provide the right tools to “grow the pie of our industry.” She added: “As a government we’re playing a role and it’s up also to the industry to take their responsibility to modernize their business models, bearing in mind that there is a changing technology, but also consumers are changing their behaviours when it comes to content consumption.” Part of the government’s role is what Joly called her job as the “chief marketing officer” for Canadian content, which she said would be aided by the cultural export strategy, also coming this year “for sure.” During the question-and-answer session on stage with Mastin, Joly gave few hints as to what was to come in the cultural policy resulting from her overarching review of Canadian content in a digital age. She said she was pleased with the consultation and that it involved participation by 30,000 people, but that there would be additional consultation coming with a focus on filling gaps in hearing from indigenous and youth voices. She indicated that the resulting policy, which she said is coming this year, would look more like a concrete set of action items as opposed to a series of recommendations for change. “I think what I have in mind is people have a tendency sometimes to think that we can’t modernize our institutions and it’s too complicated to do so,” Joly said. “I’d rather take the risk of modernizing the institutions for the good than keeping the status quo. That’s how I approach things.” Joly said she’s working with her cabinet colleagues responsible for innovation and international trade to streamline things. “Ultimately what I’m trying to do is it should be seamless for people in your position to deal with government when it comes to creative industries,” she said. “It should be easy and therefore it shouldn’t be siloed like we’re organized.” However, Joly kept to the portfolio divide when asked again by reporters whether taxation for Internet service providers (ISPs) or foreign digital services, like Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top service, is forthcoming, referring questions of taxation to the finance minister. As part of its submission to the cultural review, the CMPA highlighted its support for contributions from ISPs and OTT services. Mastin asked Joly about recently released government-commissioned public opinion research that suggested Canadians are happy to support increased Canadian content contributions, but don’t want to see it reflected on their bills. “I thought it was a legitimate reaction,” Joly said. “We’re studying all scenarios. That being said… Canadians are anxious towards the cost of living and they are anxious about the cost of the telecommunications services and their broadcasting services. And so we have to bear that in mind.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Joly not afraid of change following cultural review

Broadcast | February 3, 2017

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Joly not afraid of change following cultural review

Broadcast | February 3, 2017

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