Rodriguez told to introduce news compensation by early 2022, Champagne to focus on spectrum “use it or lose it”

Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez is expected to introduce news compensation legislation in early 2022, after he was directed to do so by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his mandate letter. The letter, released Thursday, gives Rodriguez detailed directions to introduce legislation requiring digital platforms that generate revenues from publishing news content to share a portion with Canadian news outlets, reintroduce legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act, modernize the copyright act, tackle online harms, and increase funding for the CBC. During its election campaign, the Liberal government promised to tackle several of those issues within its first 100 days, however, news compensation was the only task Rodriguez was given a timeline on in his mandate letter. Before the election was called, the federal government launched a consultation on news compensation, highlighting two different approaches to putting more money from big tech into the local news economy. However, the letter instructed Rodriguez to model his legislation on the Australian approach. The last parliament introduced Bill C-10 as the reform to the Broadcasting Act, which included the controversial requirements that social media sites must adhere to discoverability requirements and financial contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system. However, it died on the Senate floor when the 2021 election was called. The mandate letter gives no timeline or further instructions on the reintroduction of the legislation apart from the fact that it must “ensure foreign web giants contribute to the creation and promotion of Canadian stories and music.” Rodgriguez and Minister of Justice David Lametti were instructed to work together to “develop and introduce legislation as soon as possible” to combat serious forms of harmful online content to protect Canadians and hold social media platforms and other online services accountable for the content they host. They were asked that the legislation reflect the feedback received during the government’s recent consultations on the issue. Lametti was given additional instructions in his mandate letter to strengthen the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to “more effectively” combat online hate and reintroduce measures to strengthen hate speech provisions. Rodriguez was also asked to strengthen the CBC/Radio-Canada in numerous ways, including updating its mandate and increasing its funding “with a goal of eliminating advertising during news and other public affairs shows.” No specific funding amount for the CBC was mentioned in the letter even though Rodriguez received specific instructions to increase the proportion of funding for French audiovisual content at Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund from 33 per cent to 40 per cent. Rodriguez will also have to work with the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne to amend the Copyright Act to allow resale rights for artists. Champagne’s own letter heavily focused on environmental initiatives. On the telecom side of things he was asked to accelerate broadband delivery by implementing a “use it or lose it” approach to spectrum rights. During the election, the Liberals said they wanted to progressively meet unspecified broadband access milestones between now and 2025. If these milestones aren’t met, the party said its government will mandate the resale of spectrum rights and reallocate that capacity to smaller, regional providers. Champagne’s 2021 mandate letter tasked him with supporting the rollout of the Universal Broadband Fund, but now the continuation of the fund has fallen to Minister of Rural Economic Development Gudie Hutchings who was instructed to “continue to lead the Universal Broadband Fund and accelerate the delivery of broadband service across Canada.” Champagne was also instructed to establish a digital policy task force “to integrate efforts across government and position Canada as a leader in the digital economy and in shaping global governance of emerging technologies” and also to introduce legislation to advance the Digital Charter and strengthen privacy protections for consumers. – Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca.

Rodriguez told to introduce news compensation by early 2022, Champagne to focus on spectrum “use it or lose it”

Broadcast | December 16, 2021

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Rodriguez told to introduce news compensation by early 2022, Champagne to focus on spectrum “use it or lose it”

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