As the national voice of Canada’s private broadcasters, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is pleased to see the Minister of Canadian Heritage’s motion on Bill C-11 tabled yesterday, which moves this critical piece of legislation forward after prolonged debates in the House of Commons and the Senate.
“Bill C-11 has received an abundance of scrutiny and debate. Now is the time to adopt this legislation and move forward to ensure that our outdated broadcasting regulatory framework is brought into this century,” says CAB President Kevin Desjardins.
“The broadcasting sector faces an unprecedented pace of change, and foreign online giants continue to benefit from the continued delays in bringing them into the fold. They continue to reap the significant financial benefits of their presence in the Canadian market, while our broadcasters operate under the old rules and carry the weight of the obligations for supporting our domestic entertainment sector.”
It is crucial that we finish the job now so that we can start to usher in long-awaited, necessary updates to the Broadcasting Act. We are hopeful that all parties will work together to ensure the passage of this bill, which will eventually help to rebalance the regulatory obligations between broadcasters and foreign online undertakings.