Wednesday, May 18, 2022
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Social licence
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Social licence
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

New legislation will end 25 years of CRTC net neutrality: Peter Menzies in Troy Media

November 6, 2020
in Columns, Domestic Policy Program, Economic policy, In the Media, Latest News, Peter Menzies
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A

The legislation ends 25 years of CRTC net neutrality and signals the end of an era of unprecedented prosperity for the Canadian film and television industry, writes Peter Menzies in Troy Media. 

By Peter Menzies, November 6, 2020

A federal government that only a few years ago spoke brightly about innovation and embracing the 21st century has sadly lost its way.

That was made apparent this week when – smuggled in on U.S. election day when it would get the least attention possible – Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault unveiled legislation giving the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) sweeping new powers.

Those powers would crush consumer freedom, tax and regulate content on the internet, and ultimately stifle investment, while increasing the cost of Netflix and other subscriptions.

In a nutshell, the legislation ends 25 years of CRTC net neutrality and signals the end of an era of unprecedented prosperity for the Canadian film and television industry.

In granting the increasingly ponderous CRTC authority over Netflix, etc., the legislation has launched a period of hearings, appeals, reviews, litigation and uncertainty that could consume most of the next decade.

Combining that with the enormous chore of redefining official Canadian content will launch a period of such uncertainty that the investment – much of it foreign – that has fuelled 80 per cent growth in Canadian film and television production over the past 10 years will likely be scared away.

As if this isn’t bad enough, this destructive mission appears to be the extent of the government’s response to its review of broadcasting and telecommunications legislation. It will preoccupy the CRTC’s attention and resources for years at a time when the nation’s distressed economy has never depended more heavily on universally accessible, affordable internet and mobile communications.

The legislation against the “Web Giants,” as the government likes to call them, was pitched as an effort to level the playing field for broadcasters, who must contribute as much as 30 per cent of their revenues to Canadian content creation production funds (two-thirds English, one-third French).

Guilbeault’s team appeared oblivious to the fact that unregulated, unprotected companies like Netflix, while not required to do so, have already been investing at that level for years.

Still to come is Guilbeault’s promised fight to force Facebook to pay newspapers for social media posts by newspapers.

The papers have enlisted the support of several of their reporters, commentators and Canada’s largest private-sector trade union, UNIFOR, to argue that social media companies poach and unfairly profit from their content. They want Canada to create a code of conduct similar to one promised in Australia that would force Facebook to pay newspapers each time one of their stories or columns is posted and shared.

Facebook maintains that the government and the newspaper industry have a very poor grasp of the internet and user-generated content business models. It says its provision of a free delivery platform for the news industry has a market value of hundreds of millions of dollars and, to boot, news represents a very small percentage of the content posted.

In Australia, Facebook has said that if legislation goes forward it will simply refuse to carry news content from that country’s publishers.

While Ottawa fiddles, a new policy paper outlines how the nation’s communications networks are under more pressure than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and are in desperate need of expanded capacity and availability. Millions of us already work from home and the pandemic’s second wave is only going to add to that number.

This means the federal government must move quickly on issues a lot less sexy but a lot more vital to the nation than telling Netflix what you want to watch and getting in the middle of the battle between newspapers and the “Web Giants.”

These include – brace yourself – competitor access to networks, mobile virtual network operators (cheap cellphones) and regulatory efficiency. All of these have the potential to bring down the cost and improve the quality of internet and cellular service.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland last month acknowledged that the time will come when the country can no longer keep borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars to sustain businesses and jobs in an economy that has shrunk by five per cent.

Similarly, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem recently warned that many of the nation’s 700,000 lost jobs may never come back.

“We’re going to get through this, but it’s going to be a long slog,” he said.

It sure is. And that means it’s time Guilbeault and others stopped destroying investment by picking fights the country doesn’t need. And it’s time they did the big-kid work needed to ensure Canadians and their industries have the infrastructure to support the resurrection of our economy.

Peter Menzies is a senior fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute, past CRTC vice-chair and a former newspaper publisher.

Tags: broadcastingCRTCnet neutralityPeter Menzies
Previous Post

Chasing fiscal pots of gold: Philip Cross in the Financial Post

Next Post

The common – and elusive – humanity of wearing a mask: Peter Menzies in Troy Media

Related Posts

A nation of too many laws: William Watson in the Financial Post
In the Media

A nation of too many laws: William Watson in the Financial Post

May 13, 2022
Latvian Prime Minister encourages Canada to lead in Europe’s energy crisis
Latest News

Latvian Prime Minister encourages Canada to lead in Europe’s energy crisis

May 12, 2022
A Conversation with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Krišjānis Kariņš
Foreign Affairs

Video: A Conversation with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Krišjānis Kariņš

May 12, 2022
Next Post
The common – and elusive – humanity of wearing a mask: Peter Menzies in Troy Media

The common – and elusive – humanity of wearing a mask: Peter Menzies in Troy Media

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Social licence
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.