NDP MP says gov’t must clarify if Netflix deal had any French-language funds

OTTAWA — Quebec NDP MP François Choquette has filed a judicial review application with the Federal Court to contest the alleged premature closing of an investigation by the Official Languages commissioner into the 2017 Netflix deal that the MP claims underserves francophone Canadians. In September 2017, then-Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly announced a deal with Netflix Inc. that included a promise the over-the-top streaming service would spend $500 million in the country over five years. That fall, Choquette filed a challenge with the languages commissioner because, he said, the deal only allocates $25 million, or about five per cent of that money, to the francophone market -- allegedly failing to fulfill obligations under the law to promote French. However, while that's how the government pitched the agreement, the deal doesn't actually allocate any specific amount of money to the French-language market or French-language content. The initial announcement stated that the agreement would support "Canadian French-language content on the Netflix platform through a market development strategy for Canada," and that would be "entered on a CAD $25 million investment." But a follow-up blog post from Netflix clarified that $25 million is for market development "including the French-language community in Quebec," while the $500 million would be spent on both English and French-language content. Choquette said in a follow-up interview Thursday that he was very surprised to hear that the money was also earmarked for other markets, because Joly repeatedly indicated in media interviews that money is for the French-language market. He said it's now up to current Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez to clarify Joly's past statements. "For me it's really preoccupying and it makes it more relevant to go to the Federal Court, to know the truth about this story and about this agreement," he said. Simon Ross, spokesperson for Rodriguez, sent an emailed statement criticizing the NDP but didn't respond to follow-up questions about how much of the $25 million is meant to support French-language market. "The Official Languages Commissioner has been crystal clear: our Government has fulfilled all its official languages responsibilities. We have always protected our languages and we will continue to do so," the statement said. "Francophones across the country know that we are making right now the biggest investment in our history to protect French. The NDP is trying the Harper method and is playing petty politics. We are modernizing our laws to adapt them to the internet and our goal is clear: all players that participate in our system must contribute to our system; no free ride." On Tuesday, Choquette, who is the party’s Official Languages critic, appeared at West Block to lay out the details of his legal case to reporters. “After reading the preliminary report, I indicated to him that I thought it was necessary to obtain the agreement in order to determine whether the government, by signing this agreement, had failed” in fulfilling the French obligations, Choquette said in translated notes sent in an email. The details of the deal have been shrouded in secrecy, he said. The commissioner, Raymond Théberge, laid out his conclusions in his final February report. “I was confident that he would win the case for francophones and conduct a full investigation, but to our great disappointment, he felt that there was no clear and convincing evidence of breaches of the Act, without asking to consult the secret agreement,” Choquette added, suggesting he doesn’t see how the commissioner’s report can be finalized without seeing “all relevant documents.” The intent of the suit is to order the commissioner to continue the investigation by requesting access to the relevant documents, “including the detailed agreement, as he has the right and the duty to do before issuing new conclusions.” Canadian Heritage is responsible for coordinating the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act, which is at issue in this case. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez inherited the portfolio from Joly last year. Choquette said he is also taking the department to court for failing to comply with its commitments under the act. Under the deal, “the government should have required a sum proportional to the number of Francophones in Canada, at least,” he said, and by failing to “guarantee the production of French content,” the government failed in its duty. “This is a real shame in a country where 22 per cent of the population’s first language is French and where there are 10 million French speakers,” Choquette said. The suit follows criticism from NDP Heritage critic Pierre Nantel, who has repeatedly taken the government’s policies toward OTT players to task, once calling Joly “Machievellian” for delaying any potential regulation of online platforms until after this fall’s federal election. The government has faced pressure to impose regulations from both the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, while the Quebec government has moved ahead with imposing sales tax on Netflix on its own. CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to clarify that Netflix hasn't publicly committed to spend any specific amount of money on the French-language market. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and reporting and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

NDP MP says gov’t must clarify if Netflix deal had any French-language funds

News | April 3, 2019

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NDP MP says gov’t must clarify if Netflix deal had any French-language funds

News | April 3, 2019

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