C-10 regulations ‘Kafkaesque’: Quebecor’s PKP

Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told MPs at a Friday meeting of the House of Commons Heritage committee that the government initiative to overhaul the Broadcasting Act, known as Bill C-10, should focus more on deregulating existing traditional Canadian media. "For traditional broadcasters -- those that showcase our Quebec and francophone culture and the resulting economic benefits -- the bill imposes new regulatory restrictions that will not redress the unfair conditions they have been coping with for years," Péladeau said according to a simultaneous translation, "and will only pull them even deeper into the financial abyss and a Kafkaesque universe of financial regulation." Under the government's proposed legislation, foreign streaming platforms like Netflix, Inc. would be brought under the regulatory framework of the CRTC, though it will be up to the CRTC to determine the precise regulations within nine months of receiving an order-in-council from the government. But for Péladeau, the government should lessen content regulations, rather than increase them. Péladeau pointed to content obligations such as stipulations that Canadian content must be shown during prime time, requirements concerning the exhibition of programs of national interest, and local production obligations as regulations that should be deregulated. "Instead of investing in Quebec and Canadian production, we're investing in paperwork and bureaucracy. Our foreign competitors have no obligation in the meantime," Péladeau told MPs. The Quebecor CEO's position on C-10 marks a departure from the executive leadership of another large broadcaster, BCE Inc. In November, Bell CEO Mirko Bibic praised Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault's effort to update the Broadcasting Act, saying the act would help to achieve several long term goals of his company. “The recognition that there needs to be a level playing field in Canadian broadcasting as between our domestic players large and small, and the global internet giants: very, very important principle. We’ve been asking for the recognition of regulatory symmetry and a level playing field for a long time,” Bibic said at the time. Corus Entertainment Inc. CEO Doug Murphy has also called for lessened Canadian content regulations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the fall said his company would use the opportunity of the Broadcasting Act overhaul to advocate to that effect.

C-10 regulations ‘Kafkaesque’: Quebecor’s PKP

Brief | March 12, 2021

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