Further to yesterday’s tabling of the report from the committee of experts tasked with examining Canadian broadcasting and telecommunications legislation, the Conseil provincial du secteur des communications (CPSC) of the Canadian Union of Public Employees is hoping that the Government of Canada will act quickly to implement several of the recommendations in the report.
As early as 2014 back when the Parlons télé advisory report was issued, CPSC has been sounding the alarm on the lack of regulations surrounding digital platforms in Canada, which has made for an unlevel playing field. As a result, Canadian media companies have seen an erosion of their sales, audiences and finally profits, which has jeopardized the jobs of workers.
The committee of experts submitted several recommendations aimed at restoring some balance with web giants, but it will take several years for some of them to find their way into legislation. The CPSC is therefore asking the government to take action now to establish interim measures forcing online programming companies to abide by certain obligations, particularly the requirement to collect GST/HST.
With respect to television production, the CPSC is very pleased with the committee’s recommendation to grant affiliated producers and broadcasters access to the same financing or tax credit rules as independent producers.
The recommendations on telecom companies deal with aspects of security, reliability and the deployment of new 5G technologies. However, CPSC deplores the absence of recommendations to avoid the subcontracting of several types of jobs in this sector to foreign countries, which compromises the sovereignty of Canadian communications infrastructures and privacy.