L'éditorial suivant du président de la Guilde Warren Sonoda a été d'abord publié dans le quotidien The Toronto Star.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/06/22/the-stakes-too-high-for-canadian-film-and-tv-industry-for-senate-not-to-pass-updated-broadcasting-act.html

It’s not every day the Canadian Senate holds the fate of an entire industry in its hands, nor the future of our national culture. This week, it arguably holds power over both.

After weeks of filibustering and delay, the House of Commons has passed Bill C-10, an overhaul of the Broadcasting Act bringing global streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ into the Canadian system. This is a law literally two decades in the making, the product of endless debate, and now the upper chamber takes up this complex legislation with a ticking clock and a likely election looming this fall. It’s a tall order, but this bill must pass.

The stakes for the Canadian film & television industry are too high to push this issue off to another parliament. The Canadian screen industry supports nearly 250,000 well-paid, middle-class jobs, adds $12 billion to our GDP and turns out international hits like Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, Coroner, Transplant and Odd Squad. Countless Canadian creatives have strived to make Canadian film & television worth watching. And it is watched. Canadian productions are now seen in over 200 countries and draw massive domestic and global audiences. We mount shows that shape our shared identity, increasingly showcase the diversity of Canadian voices and help shape the minds and curiosity of our children. And all this is made possible by a ninety year-old law called the Broadcasting Act.

For five decades, Canadian broadcasters have bought low-cost, big budget US content in the “acquisition market,” generating a healthy revenue stream re-airing American programming for Canadian audiences. That low-risk profit centre helps keep our whole industry afloat.

The Broadcasting Act strikes an elegant bargain: In exchange for access to Canadian audiences, our broadcasters must invest a portion of their revenue back into original programming. This trade-off has helped build the industry we have today. Top American studios now come here to shoot blockbuster movies and hit TV series, and our own homegrown talent wins Oscars and Emmys on Canadian productions without having to leave home for LA.

But the rise of global streaming giants has thrown this model into question. Streamers can generate billions in subscription sales in Canada without ever making a contribution to Canadian culture. Some companies like Netflix have admirably supported local content in many countries, and all the major streamers already shoot US-originated content here in Canada, destined for global audiences. But given the popularity of US TV, and the lack of any language barrier in English Canada, there will never be the same incentive to push true homegrown stories here that exists in countries like Japan or France where local content tops even the biggest global hits.

Fortunately, there’s a simple solution: Enter Bill C-10 to modernize the rules of our broadcasting system. The bill requires no taxes or levies, no hand of government dictating programming choices, just that streaming services invest a share of their Canadian revenue into Canadian productions – as our own broadcasters always have.

While this solution is simple, debate in parliament has been anything but. There have been legitimate and thoughtful questions raised about C-10, questions that helped craft a better bill. But those who oppose any form of regulation of broadcasting or big tech have used wrangling over legislative language to try to sink the bill in its entirety.

Following a full and fearsome debate, C-10 passed the House with support from four of five parties and a final raft of amendments clarifying that the law applies only to content produced by broadcasters and platforms, not users. In the end, the bill’s most strident critics were left hurling objections over so-called “discoverability,” a last-ditch argument that guaranteeing a little extra promotional space for Canadian shows is somehow an afront to free speech.

If critics are reduced to lamenting the possibility Canadians might see Dan and Eugene Levy or Andrea Bang and Simu Liu on their Netflix splash page, it’s safe to say they’ve run out of reasonable arguments. One might ask, what’s the point of empowering a diverse range of Canadian voices, if those stories can’t even be found?

This bill has been debated to death, but it can’t be allowed to die. The Senate may be a body of “sober second thought,” but this issue has had second, third and fourth thought over many years. It’s time to pass the bill.