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Canadian Identity and Culture

During question period on Canadian identity and culture, the Bloc Québécois said the government’s cancellation of the digital services tax and the waiving of levies on streaming services would cost about $1.4 billion a year that should have gone toward supporting French-language culture and making large web companies contribute. The Liberal reply pointed to investments in culture in the most recent budget, including $750 million for the National Film Board, CBC/Radio-Canada and Telefilm Canada, and said the Bloc had not accomplished results while in Ottawa. The exchange centred on the trade-off between the cancelled digital levies and the budget’s cultural spending.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

2 statements

Martin Champoux

Bloc Québécois
“The government is giving up on making big web companies pay their share. Cancelling the digital services tax and dropping fees on streaming services costs billions of dollars that should support French-language culture.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals love to dream big, but when it comes to taking action, it is a whole different story. French-language culture is the main victim of the Prime Minister’s capitulations. Scrapping the digital services tax means a loss of $1.4 billion per year, and waiving the levies on streaming platforms means that billions more will be left on the table. More importantly, this means abandoning a permanent solution to cultural issues and replacing it with temporary public funding that is subject to the whims of Canadian governments. Ottawa is permanently abandoning a decade-long fight to make web giants contribute. When he was appointed, did the minister know that he was being mandated to destroy our culture?

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Marc Miller

Liberal
“Our government is funding Quebec and Canadian culture, including $750 million in the budget for public broadcasters and film agencies. The Bloc Québécois does not get anything done and ignores the money we are spending.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Signal 36 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, while the Bloc Québécois spends its fourth decade here in Ottawa getting absolutely nothing done, we are taking action. In the most recent budget, we invested $750 million in the National Film Board of Canada, CBC/Radio-Canada and Telefilm Canada. Now, Bloc members are turning their noses up at $600 million per year. They did not read the press release. We are taking action. We are investing in Quebec and Canadian culture.

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