Heather McPherson, Edmonton Strathcona
“I want the House to vote against this motion. Foreign streaming companies like Netflix should pay money to support Canadian films, television, and artists. The Conservatives want to protect big American corporations instead of Canadian workers and our own culture.”
“Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Bourassa. I want to start by talking about the workers who this impacts. I want to talk about the grip in Sudbury, the indigenous filmmaker in Winnipeg and the French-language screenwriter in Rimouski. I want to talk about my friend Marcus, who is a boom operator in Vancouver. I will state this very plainly: New Democrats will continue to fight for workers’ rights, and that includes those who work within the arts and culture sector in this country. We will not stand with multi-billion-dollar corporations and web giants over Canadian workers. That is the ultimate contradiction that we see with this motion today. The leader of the official opposition claims to stand for working Canadians, but today he is standing up for Netflix, Amazon and Disney. The CRTC’s new framework requires streaming services to direct 15% of their Canadian revenues to support domestic programming. That is part of a $2-billion support system for Canadian and indigenous content. It is not a punitive surprise. It follows the Online Streaming Act that was passed three years ago, after repeated calls from Canadian entertainment companies, broadcast workers and artists to modernize a decades-old Canadian content regulation. Let us put these numbers into perspective. Traditional broadcasters like CTV currently pay between 30% and 45%. Under the new framework, they will actually lower that payment to 25%, so we are asking the web giants to pay 15%. It is not radical. That is fair. That is fairness to Canadian content producers. Canada’s film and television production industry generates nearly $12 billion in GDP and $10.2 billion in production volume, and it supports over 181,000 jobs. Those jobs do not fund themselves. Critically, the contributions are not a direct tax on consumers. That is clearly a Conservative talking point, not a fact. It is a contribution requirement on corporations. I want to quote the Toronto president of ACTRA, Kate Ziegler, who said: Decisions to strengthen support for Indigenous and Canadian content and to improve discoverability are a step in the right direction. For ACTRA Toronto performers, this has the potential to generate new opportunities, strengthen domestic production, and help ensure Canadian audiences continue to see themselves reflected on screen. The Canadian Media Producers Association said the CRTC’s decisions: reflect the underlying philosophy of the Online Streaming Act, namely that broadcasters and streaming services that generate significant revenues from Canadian subscribers and viewers must also invest in Canadian programming. This is also about supporting French and indigenous production, to ensure that we have that content, to ensure that those stories are being told. That is an important role that we have in this country. The Conservatives are trying to stop the creation of that content at a moment in time where our cultural sovereignty is at risk. We are New Democrats, and workers need us. We need to be supporting them, and we will. We always will. Today, we are going to stand with the 15,000 ACTRA members and the 181,000-plus workers in the creative sector. We are not going to stand with the shareholders for Netflix. Yes, Canadians are struggling with the cost of living. New Democrats have been saying that for years, but the answer to that is not to let web giants off the hook, because Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are not struggling small businesses. They are trillion-dollar corporations that are extracting billions from Canadian subscribers every year, and they should pay into the system that they are benefiting from. If the Leader of the Opposition is so worried about the cost of living for ordinary Canadians, why is his solution to cut the levy on some of the wealthiest corporations in the world? Who is he actually fighting for? The NDP believes in making the ultrawealthy and giant corporations pay their fair share so that we can fund the services, the storytelling, the creation and the building of our cultural sector, as well as the jobs that Canadians are depending on. The strategy of appeasement does not work. History has told us that it does not work. We know, as we negotiate with the United States, that there is an explicit exception in CUSMA that allows us to take measures to support and protect cultural industries. Canada fought for that clause. It is in the agreement, and we should be using it. I understand that the Conservatives want to pre-emptively roll over. They want to pre-emptively gut our own cultural policy to soothe Trump’s trade hawks, but we do not make domestic policy based on what Donald Trump wants. We make our policy based on what Canadians want and what Canadians need. If we abandon content funding every single time Donald Trump objects, we no longer have a cultural policy. I want members to think about the absurdity of that. If we have a policy dictated by Washington, we have already given up our cultural policy. I want to get back to the people who work in this industry. I want to talk about the actor in Edmonton who got their first gig on a CAVCO-funded production, the indigenous storyteller whose documentary in Edmonton was made possible because of the system that requires investment and the journalists in a small market who kept their job because local news got funded. These are the stakes that we are talking about right now. The NDP stands for a Canada that tells its own stories, employs its own workers and refuses to be hollowed out by corporations that are being cowed by foreign governments. We call on the House to reject this motion, to stand with Canadian workers and to affirm that Canadian culture is not a trade irritant. It is who we are. The Conservatives want to bow to Trump. They want to support big corporations trying to rip Canadians off. New Democrats will always choose Canadians over corporate profits.”
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Bourassa. I want to start by talking about the workers who this impacts. I want to talk about the grip in Sudbury, the indigenous filmmaker in Winnipeg and the French-language screenwriter in Rimouski. I want to talk about my friend Marcus, who is a boom operator in Vancouver. I will state this very plainly: New Democrats will continue to fight for workers’ rights, and that includes those who work within the arts and culture sector in this country. We will not stand with multi-billion-dollar corporations and web giants over Canadian workers. That is the ultimate contradiction that we see with this motion today. The leader of the official opposition claims to stand for working Canadians, but today he is standing up for Netflix, Amazon and Disney. The CRTC’s new framework requires streaming services to direct 15% of their Canadian revenues to support domestic programming. That is part of a $2-billion support system for Canadian and indigenous content. It is not a punitive surprise. It follows the Online Streaming Act that was passed three years ago, after repeated calls from Canadian entertainment companies, broadcast workers and artists to modernize a decades-old Canadian content regulation. Let us put these numbers into perspective. Traditional broadcasters like CTV currently pay between 30% and 45%. Under the new framework, they will actually lower that payment to 25%, so we are asking the web giants to pay 15%. It is not radical. That is fair. That is fairness to Canadian content producers. Canada’s film and television production industry generates nearly $12 billion in GDP and $10.2 billion in production volume, and it supports over 181,000 jobs. Those jobs do not fund themselves. Critically, the contributions are not a direct tax on consumers. That is clearly a Conservative talking point, not a fact. It is a contribution requirement on corporations. I want to quote the Toronto president of ACTRA, Kate Ziegler, who said: Decisions to strengthen support for Indigenous and Canadian content and to improve discoverability are a step in the right direction. For ACTRA Toronto performers, this has the potential to generate new opportunities, strengthen domestic production, and help ensure Canadian audiences continue to see themselves reflected on screen. The Canadian Media Producers Association said the CRTC’s decisions: reflect the underlying philosophy of the Online Streaming Act, namely that broadcasters and streaming services that generate significant revenues from Canadian subscribers and viewers must also invest in Canadian programming. This is also about supporting French and indigenous production, to ensure that we have that content, to ensure that those stories are being told. That is an important role that we have in this country. The Conservatives are trying to stop the creation of that content at a moment in time where our cultural sovereignty is at risk. We are New Democrats, and workers need us. We need to be supporting them, and we will. We always will. Today, we are going to stand with the 15,000 ACTRA members and the 181,000-plus workers in the creative sector. We are not going to stand with the shareholders for Netflix. Yes, Canadians are struggling with the cost of living. New Democrats have been saying that for years, but the answer to that is not to let web giants off the hook, because Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are not struggling small businesses. They are trillion-dollar corporations that are extracting billions from Canadian subscribers every year, and they should pay into the system that they are benefiting from. If the Leader of the Opposition is so worried about the cost of living for ordinary Canadians, why is his solution to cut the levy on some of the wealthiest corporations in the world? Who is he actually fighting for? The NDP believes in making the ultrawealthy and giant corporations pay their fair share so that we can fund the services, the storytelling, the creation and the building of our cultural sector, as well as the jobs that Canadians are depending on. The strategy of appeasement does not work. History has told us that it does not work. We know, as we negotiate with the United States, that there is an explicit exception in CUSMA that allows us to take measures to support and protect cultural industries. Canada fought for that clause. It is in the agreement, and we should be using it. I understand that the Conservatives want to pre-emptively roll over. They want to pre-emptively gut our own cultural policy to soothe Trump’s trade hawks, but we do not make domestic policy based on what Donald Trump wants. We make our policy based on what Canadians want and what Canadians need. If we abandon content funding every single time Donald Trump objects, we no longer have a cultural policy. I want members to think about the absurdity of that. If we have a policy dictated by Washington, we have already given up our cultural policy. I want to get back to the people who work in this industry. I want to talk about the actor in Edmonton who got their first gig on a CAVCO-funded production, the indigenous storyteller whose documentary in Edmonton was made possible because of the system that requires investment and the journalists in a small market who kept their job because local news got funded. These are the stakes that we are talking about right now. The NDP stands for a Canada that tells its own stories, employs its own workers and refuses to be hollowed out by corporations that are being cowed by foreign governments. We call on the House to reject this motion, to stand with Canadian workers and to affirm that Canadian culture is not a trade irritant. It is who we are. The Conservatives want to bow to Trump. They want to support big corporations trying to rip Canadians off. New Democrats will always choose Canadians over corporate profits.