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Business of Supply

A Conservative supply motion calling on the government to cancel the CRTC’s new requirement that online streaming services pay 15% of their Canadian revenues, up from 5%, arguing the cost will be passed to consumers, cost jobs, and strain trade with the United States. Conservatives said the levy amounts to a tax that hurts households and cultural businesses, which should compete freely; the Bloc opposed the motion and argued both major parties have abandoned taxing digital companies, pointing to the cancelled digital services tax and what the government got in return for scrapping it; the NDP said streaming companies should contribute to Canadian film, television and artists and urged members to vote the motion down; Liberals defended the CRTC as an independent regulator whose decisions should not be directed by the House and said the government is protecting the arts sector and Canadian industries during trade negotiations with the United States. Some Bloc members also paid tribute to a departing colleague, and one Liberal question concerned how Bill C-11 supports francophone artists.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

2 statements

Elizabeth May

Green
“I want to know how we can make big online streaming companies hire more Canadian actors and pay them fair wages.”

  • Question or comment in debate

    Signal 35 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague is a relatively new member of the House. I want to congratulate my colleague on her French. I think she has improved considerably. That is something I had to work on as well. My goal is still to become truly bilingual. Online streaming, as the member said, is a relatively new concept. Those of us who are older, and I will put myself in that category, did not grow up with the concept. We would not have known what anyone was talking about. We had television, and the big innovation when I was a kid was that we could get it in colour. I want to ask this again. What I am wondering, given that the changes are so rapid, is this: What does the member believe is the most important thing we can do to ensure that the big online streaming platforms hire more Canadian talent, hire more Canadian actors and pay them at scale instead of lesser wages while they bring in U.S. stars to sprinkle the programming?

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Elizabeth May

Green
“I support this tax. Foreign companies like Netflix make billions in profit and should pay taxes in Canada like everyone else.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I also agree with what my colleague said about today’s motion. It is a mystery to me. I do not understand why anyone would oppose this tax, which is already enshrined in Canadian law, when big foreign companies like Netflix and others do not pay taxes in Canada. At the same time, they are making over $2 billion or $3 billion in profit—

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