“We need to protect our culture and our media. Why did the government cancel the tax on big tech companies that would have supported them?”

“Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his remarks. He said a number of things that the Bloc Québécois agrees with. I often say that we protect what we love. We love our culture. We love our free, independent press. We want to protect it and give it the means to continue entertaining and informing Quebeckers. I have a question for my colleague. If he loves Quebec culture and the free press, as we do, why did his government cancel the digital services tax a year ago, a tax that would have been used to take money out of the pockets of web giants and give it back to our culture and media?”

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“I want to know what the member thinks about the government changing its mind on the digital services tax.”

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome my colleague and congratulate her on her first speech in the House. I would like to hear her comments on the Liberal government’s backtracking on the digital services tax. What are her thoughts on this?”

“Big web companies should pay a share of their profits to support our culture. Traditional media had to pay fees to operate, but web giants pay nothing. Taking a small cut from them will help keep local news alive without hurting their independence. I want to hear the member's thoughts on this.”

“Mr. Speaker, it is not about being afraid of American cultural content. On the contrary, it is popular with plenty of people. That is not the issue. The issue is about levelling the playing field across the country, because the existing media outlets and institutions had to pay licence fees and infrastructure costs, while the web giants enter the market without any such costs. It is simply a matter of taking a small cut of the profits that they make and redistributing them to support our culture. Contrary to what the member seems to think, this is not about dictating content. The institutions will remain independent. However, one of the things that it will do is help maintain regional media outlets, which is very important for democracy. I would like to hear his comments on that.”

“I agree with my colleague. The Conservatives are siding with American companies instead of helping our culture and media, which are losing advertising money. It is not fair that American companies can make money off our culture without paying taxes here.”

“Mr. Speaker, on the whole, I agree with my colleague. We are witnessing a pathetic display of obsequiousness by the Conservative Party today. It has decided to champion the interests of American companies in the House even as our culture and media sectors are being hit hard by an unprecedented advertising revenue crisis. We have to support them. Some American companies are going to use our cultural products to make a profit here, yet we should not tax them. How is that fair?”

“The government cancelled the tax on big tech companies to help talks with the United States, but it did not work. We could collect seven billion dollars from these companies to support our local media and culture. Will the member push her government to bring this tax back?”

“Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the content of my colleague’s speech. I think we are on the same wavelength. We understand that there are funds that need to be reinvested in our local culture. I have a question for my colleague. Her government scrapped the tax on tech giants last year, supposedly to facilitate negotiations with the U.S. president, yet we can see that it has yielded no results. Should this tax not be reinstated? Does she agree with the idea of recovering these colossal sums—as I recall, it was $7 billion over five years—which could allow us to support our regional media? Will she commit to working within her caucus to convince her government to reinstate this tax, which had been adopted and was the result of sound legislation?”

“Big tech companies make money from our culture, and our cultural industry needs that money. The government backed down on taxing them so it would not upset the United States. I want to know how hard the member will work to convince the government to bring back this tax on digital giants.”

“Mr. Speaker, I would like my colleague to tell us more about her intention to work toward convincing the government to reinstate the digital services tax. Earlier, I was talking about the Conservative Party’s pathetic obsequiousness. I think the same thing happened with the Liberal Party last year. To avoid ruffling feathers south of the border, the government decided not to tax a percentage of the revenue of the digital giants, even though they are making money here by using our cultural products, and even though our cultural industry needs that money. How far is my colleague willing to go to convince her government to reinstate the digital services tax?”

“The Liberals say they support our culture and producers, but they gave up on the digital services tax. How can the member explain this contradiction between his words and his government's actions?”

“Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague on his remarks, and I have no doubt about his commitment to culture and the importance of giving our producers a chance. Otherwise, they will be crushed. I still want to point out the hypocrisy of all this. Liberal Party members of Parliament are talking to us today about defending culture, but they have given up on pushing for the digital services tax. I think that might also explain why the CRTC decided to raise it. It is because the Liberals did not do their job. How does my colleague feel about this contradiction between what he says and his government’s actions?”

“Foreign digital platforms hurt local artists and media. We must tax these big web companies to support our own culture. The government has backed down on this to please the Americans, but backing down has gained us nothing. We need to stand up for ourselves, bring in these taxes, and then negotiate.”

“Mr. Speaker, surviving in the world of Canadian and Quebec productions requires existing in the first place. The problem we have right now is that these platforms have invaded, and they are getting much more visibility. We have been hearing all day that anyone can put a song on YouTube and promote it, but will not be able to live off it. It takes a structure. It takes a cultural ecosystem. We need that money to reinvest in our local media everywhere. I have a question for my colleague. All day long, we have been hearing that CUSMA was about to be negotiated and that this was no time to put a tax on the Americans, that we had to give in and not put anything in place to prevent that. My question is this. Is it not time to stand up for ourselves? Over the past year, the Liberal government has shown that giving in on everything has given us nothing. I am thinking of taxing web giants and waiving tariffs. We have gained nothing and have had new tariffs imposed to boot. Let us take responsibility. Let us put in place the taxes we need. Then we can sit down and negotiate with the Americans. What does my colleague think about that?”

“Big foreign streaming companies make a lot of money here without helping fund local news and culture, while our own broadcasters have to pay. The real issue is whether taxing them helps support our culture, especially in Quebec. What does my colleague think about that?”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to address the argument put forward by my colleague and his party about how we must never, ever tax web giants because that would be a trade irritant. Why is it a trade irritant for the Americans? Obviously, because massive corporations like Amazon, Netflix and Prime Video want to come here and make as much money as possible without contributing to the media ecosystem while traditional broadcasters and distributors pay their share to support cultural and news programming. The real question is not whether this is a trade irritant. The real question is whether or not it is good for culture, especially Quebec culture, to make sure there is money available for it. What are my colleague’s thoughts on that?”