Wired to Win !
Canada’s Positioning Within The World’s Technological Revolution
V- CONCLUSION
LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
The Subcommittee is now confident, after producing two reports, in asserting that Canada is one of the most "wired" countries in the world.
As stated earlier, close to 100 per cent of Canadians have access to telephone service and off-air radio and television; almost 80 per cent have access to cable; and nearly 60 per cent have access to a computer, whether at home, the workplace, school or other institution (and the number is increasing annually).
This sophistication not only permits Canadians from coast to coast to receive information and cultural products from all parts of the country, but also from around the world.
Interestingly, the Subcommittee determined from the countries it visited that there is a real hunger for more Canadian cultural productions. It was stated time and again how those countries – in Europe in addition to the United States – appreciated the high quality of what they saw, heard and read about Canada. However, it was also noted that they had too little opportunity to enjoy what we produce.
- The government is urged to proceed with haste, with other governments, within the
appropriate international forum, in addressing Internet content that promotes racism,
pornography and violence.
- Current Canadian content regulations should be amended to include increased points
for Canadian creators.
- The Government should continue to reaffirm its position that Canada will not
relinquish its cultural sovereignty in trade negotiations, or yield to competitive
pressures that would jeopardize it.
- The government should work through the Competition Bureau to ensure that competition
is not stifled through a process of mergers and acquisitions.
- The Government should issue a policy statement clarifying the precise distinction, if
any, between "telecommunications" and "broadcasting."
- The government should continue to survey through Statistics Canada the ownership of
computers and use of the Internet to help ensure there is an equitable opportunity
throughout society to utilize the new media.
- The government should also continue its efforts to bring the Internet into all
Canadian schools so that all students have the opportunity to take part in the world of
new technology and ultimately contribute to Canada's place in the world.
- Canada’s educational systems are encouraged to harness the interest children
have in computers as a means of enhancing reading and writing skills.
- The government should re-examine the feasibility of creating a national cultural
trading agency that would consolidate current international marketing activities and
provide a one-stop venue for Canadians engaged in producing content or cultural products
for export.
- Incentives should be provided for Canadian portal companies to give prominence to
domestic cultural content on their sites.
- The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as this country’s public broadcaster,
should receive resources to establish a search engine, or portal, to provide access to
Canadian content on the Internet.
- Web-based content services and Internet Service Providers should be able to obtain
leased high-speed access to cable systems and all other distribution networks on fair and
non-discriminatory terms, including the right to establish a separate and direct billing
relationship with customers.
- The government should monitor trends toward reinforced monopolies, or the emergence
of large-scale oligopolies, in telecommunications and the new media, and act accordingly
in the public interest.
- Intellectual property and privacy rights for new media and Web-based products must be
adequately protected through legislation and international agreements. Canadian
policymakers should move in a timely fashion to expedite Phase III revisions to
Canada’s copyright law as well as take appropriate measures to ensure privacy rights
on the Web.
- Fiscal incentives, such as tax credits currently available to conventional film and
television producers, should be extended to creators of new media content.
- Consideration should be given to developing an equitable formula for the collection
and distribution of funds to support new media production.
- Canadian products should be accorded prominence or pride-of-place on the Web.
Incentives should be offered to Internet Service Providers and those operating
Canadian-based Web portals to provide this shelf space.
- Canadian policies should take into account the specific nature of French and English
markets.
- Canada’s cultural agencies, especially the CBC, are urged to put more emphasis
on promoting the development of talented young Canadians by providing regional exposure
that will prepare them for national and international exposure.
- The Minister of Canadian Heritage, with the cooperation of the Ministers of Finance,
Industry and Labour, should reconstitute a committee under Part I of the Status of the
Artist Act to examine the working conditions and laws affecting the self-employed,
particularly those in the cultural arena and new media.
- Given that Canada needs to promote domestic culture, English-language public television broadcasters, such as the CBC and TVOntario, should be encouraged to form strategic alliances with their international counterparts to provide a new global network offering top quality programming.
WITNESSES
| NAME OF ORGANIZATION AND/OR WITNESS | ISSUE NUMBER |
DATE OF APPEARANCE |
| Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
(ACTRA) Garry Neil, Policy Advisor. |
4 |
April 1, 1998 |
| Association of Canadian Publishers Paul Davidson, Executive Director; Roy MacSkimming, Policy Director. |
4 |
April 1, 1998 |
| Canadian Association of Broadcasters - New Media Task
Force Peter Miller, Executive Vice-President and General Counsel; Cynthia Rathwell, Legal Counsel; Hal Blackadar, CFNY-FM; Glenn O'Farrell, Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, Global Television. |
10 |
November 25, 1998 |
| Canadian Association of Internet Providers Margo Langford, Internet Policy, IBM Canada and Chair, CAIP; John Nemanic, President, Internet Direct and Member of the CAIP Board; Wayne MacLaurin, President, Cyberus Online (Ottawa) and former member of the CAIP Board; Timothy Denton, Legal Counsel, Internet Direct. |
8 |
October 21, 1998 |
| Canadian Cable Television Association Richard Stursberg, President; Nick Masciantonio, Director, Government Relations. |
8 |
October 7, 1998 |
| Canadian Conference of the Arts Mireille Gagné, President; Keith Kelly, National Director. |
2 |
March 18, 1998 |
| Canadian Film and Television Producers Association Elizabeth Mcdonald, President. |
3 |
March 25, 1998 |
| Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association The Honourable Doug Frith, P.C., President; Susan Peacock, Vice President. |
5 |
May 27, 1998 |
| Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications
Commission Françoise Bertrand, Chair; David Colville, Vice-Chairman, Telecommunications; Susan Baldwin, Executive Director, Broadcasting; Carolyn Pinsky, Senior Legal Counsel. |
6 |
June 3, 1998 |
| Columbia University, Graduate School of Business Eli Noam, Professor of Finance and Economics; Director, Columbia Institute for Tele-information |
11 |
February 17, 1999 |
| Digital Renaissance Michael Blondeau, Director, Content Development. |
4 |
April 1, 1998 |
| Eurocinema Yvon Thiec, General Delegate |
12 |
February 18, 1999 |
| Independent Film & Video Alliance Penny McCann, President; Peter Sandmark, Coordinator. |
9 |
October 27, 1998 |
| Industry Canada Dr. Robert W. McCaughern, Acting Director General, Spectrum Engineering Branch; Dr. Gerald K. Chan, Director, Terrestrial Engineering Branch. |
1 |
November 26, 1997 |
| Maxlink Communications Inc Joel Bell, President. |
5 |
May 27, 1998 |
| Shaw Communications Inc. Ken Stein, Senior Vice-President, Corporate and Regulatory Affairs; Elizabeth Roscoe, Vice-President, Government Relations. |
7 |
June 17, 1998 |
| Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of
Canada (SOCAN) Gilles Valiquette, President; Paul Spurgeon, General Counsel. |
13 |
March 3, 1999 |
| TELUS Corporation George Addy, Executive Vice-President and Chief General Counsel; Lorna Higdon-Norrie, Vice-President, Public Policy and Government Affairs. |
3 |
March 25, 1998 |
Fact-finding mission to Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Silicon Valley and San Jose
(February 1998)
| Adaptec Inc | S. Sundaresh, Corporate Vice President Lana Vaysburd, General Manager |
| CommerceNet | Steve Terry |
| Dataquest | Christopher J. Thompson, Principal Analyst |
| Digital Domain | André Bustanoby |
| Forte Designs | Susan Garland Forte |
| Fox Kids | Gregory G. Economos |
| Fullbright & Jaworski L.L.P. | Billy Robbins |
| @Home Network | Milo Medin |
| Intel Corporation | Sriram Viswanathan Dan Rabieh Jay Diamond, Online Marketing Technology Strategist |
| KCOP Television Inc | Carol Myers Martz, Program Manager |
| Mediascope | Laurie Trotta |
| Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists | Tom Sito, President |
| Sony Pictures Entertainment | Mary V. O'Hare, Senior Vice-President Don Levy, Executive Director |
| Stanford Computer Industry Project | Shirley Tessler, Co-Director Avron Barr, Co-Director |
| UCLA (Centre for Communications Policy) | Jeffrey Cole, Director |
| Universal Studios New Media Group | Paul Rioux, President Chris D'Angelo, Vice-President |
| Universal Television Entertainment | Nancy A. Steingard, Executive Vice-President |
| Unterval Research | David Liddle |
| Warner Brothers | Christopher Keenan, Director of Programming Tom Knott, Recruiting Manager |
Fact-finding mission to Brussels, Belgium; Paris France and London, England
(November 1998)
BELGIUM
| Art Link Belgium Auction (ALBA) | Aurore Beguelin |
| BELGACOM | Patrice D'Oultremont, Regulations Service |
| Belgian Institute of Postal and Telecommunications Services (IBRPT) | Éric van Fleesvelde, General Director |
| Belgium Senate | Senator Paul Hatry, President, Americas Regional Group,
Inter-Parliamentary Union Senator Michel Foret, President, Liberal, French-Speaking Senators (PRL-FDF) |
| Canadian Embassy in Belgium | Ambassador Claude Laverdure Suzanne Laverdure Robert Hage, Deputy, Head of Mission |
| Canadian Embassy to the European Union | Ambassador Juneau Emitza-Escobar Juneau Gordon Venner, Counsellor, Trade Policy |
| Department of the French-Speaking Community | Paule Carnel, Official Representative |
| Eurocinéma | Mr Yvon Thiec, Delegate General |
| European Commision, Commercial Policy, Relations with North America DGI | Karl Falkenberg, Unit Chief, Directorate General I-G
(External Relations) Michel Servoz, Unit Chief, Directorate General I-M1 (External Relations) |
| European Commission, Information, Communication, Culture, Audiovisual (Directorate General X) | Daniel Calleja Crespo, Chief of Staff of Commissioner Oreja Michael Neibel, Deputy Chief of Staff Jean-Michel Baer, Director, Culture and Audiovisual Policy, Directorate Eduardo Ibanez, Deputy Chief of Staff of Commissioner Oreja Jacques Delmoly, Unit Chief, Directorate General X-C |
| European Commission, Telecommunications Information mar ket, and Exploitation of Research | Timothy Fenoulhet, Directorate General, XIII Paul Verhoef, Office of Commissioner Bangemann |
| Federal Council on Science Policy | Hugo Weekx, President |
| National Holding Company | Gilles Samyn, Director Delegate |
| Nortel | Symon Visser |
| Office of the Minister-President | Luc van Fleteren, Counsellor, Science and Technology Policy |
| SMIT | Jean-Claude Burgelman, Director, Professor Franck Neuckens, Vrije Univeersiteit Brussels |
| Telenet | Van der Spiegels, President Fons van Dyck |
FRANCE
| "Centre National de la cinématographie" (CNC) | Michel Romand-Monnier, Director, Audiovisual and Multimedia
Industries François Hurard, Director, Film Directorate Hélène Raymondaud, Assistant Director, Regulations, Regulations Financing, Outlook and Information Directorate Paule Lappini, Assistant Director, European Affairs |
| "Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel" (CSA) | Isabelle Mariani, Official Representative, International
Relations Olivier Zegna-Rata, Chief of Staff of President Bourges André-Paul Weber, Director, Audiovisual Operators |
| France Television | Xavier Gouyou-Beauchamps, President |
| France 2 and France 3 | Jean-Loup Demigneux, International Director Henri False, Director of Studies and Development |
| French Senate | Senator Danielle Pourteaud (Socialist) Senator René Trégouët (UDF-RPR) |
| Office of the Prime Minister | Brigitte Joseph Jeanneney, Culture Jean-Noël Tronc, Telecommunications and Information Technology |
LONDON
| BBC | David Levy, Chief Advisor, Policy Development, Policy &
Planning Department Simon Milner, Senior Advisor, Policy & Planning Department |
| B SKY B (satellite television) | Ray Gallagher, Director, Public Affairs Bob Oliver, Head of Operations |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sports | Niall Mackenzie, Head, Commercial and Digital Broadcasting Policy Branch |
WITNESSES WHO APPEARED FOR THE INTERIM REPORT
(second session, Thirty-fifth Parliament)
| NAME OF ORGANIZATION AND/OR WITNESS | ISSUE NUMBER |
DATE OF APPEARANCE |
| Call-Net Enterprises Inc. Juri Koor, President and Chief Executive Officer; Robert Boron, Senior Vice-President, Chief Counsel and Secretary; Jean Brazeau, Vice-president, Regulatory Affairs. |
4 |
December 4, 1996 |
| Canada Live News Agency Pierre-Paul Brassard, President; Eugène Béasse, Vice-President, Finances. |
6 |
March 12, 1997 |
| Canadian Association of Broadcasters Michael McCabe, President & Chief Executive Officer; Peter Miller, Senior Vice-President & General Counsel. |
5 |
February 12, 1997 |
| Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Guylaine Saucier, Chairman, Board of Directors; Perrin Beatty, President & CEO. |
8 |
April 9, 1997 |
| Canadian Cable Television Association Richard Stursberg, President; Dave Watt, Senior Vice-President, Technology, Economics and Telecom; Jay Thompson, Vice-President, Legal/Regulatory Affairs. |
1 |
October 23, 1996 |
| Canadian Film and Television Production Association Garry Toth, Vice-President, Member Services and Industrial Affairs; Neil Bregman, President/Executive Producer, Sound Venture Productions Ottawa Ltd. and Member of the CFTPA Board of Directors. |
7 |
March 19, 1997 |
| Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association Robert Koven, Chairman; Roger Poirier, President; David Farnes, Vice-President. |
2 |
November 27, 1996 |
| CellularVision Canada Ltd. Suzanne Scheuneman, Spokesperson; Lorne H. Abugov, Legal Counsel. |
3 |
December 2, 1996 |
| Express Vu Inc Chris Frank, Vice-President, Government and Regulatory Affairs. |
5 |
February 12, 1997 |
| FONOROLA Inc. Jan Peeters, CEO. |
2 |
November 6, 1996 |
| Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Department of Robin Higham, Director General, International Cultural Relations Bureau; Valerie Raymond, Director, Arts and Cultural Industries Division; Brian Long, Director, International Academic Relations Division; Robert Collette, Director, Investment, Science and Technology and Partnering Division; Richard Lepage, Deputy Director, Corporate Partnering; André Ronish, Manager, Technology Acquisition. |
1 |
October 23, 1996 |
| Heritage Canada Victor Rabinovitch, Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Development; Jean Guérette, Director, Distribution Systems and Multimedia; John Foote, Senior Policy Analyst, Arts Development and Programs. |
1 |
October 23, 1996 |
| IBM Canada Ltd Shahla Aly, Vice-President, Commercial services; John Warner, Government Programs. |
April 9, 1997 |
|
| Industry Canada Larry Shaw, Director General, Telecommunications Policy Branch; Hélène Asselin, Analyst. |
1 |
October 23, 1996 |
| Industry Canada (Officials from the Competition Bureau Policy) Gilles Ménard, Deputy Director of Investigation and Research (Civil Matters); Rachel Larabie-LeSieur, Deputy Director of Investigation and Research (Marketing Practices); Dave McAllister, Senior Commerce Officer, Civil Matters Branch. |
3 |
December 2, 1996 |
| National Film Board Sandra MacDonald, Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson; Joanne Leduc, Director of International Program. |
4 |
December 4, 1996 |
| National Literacy Secretariat and the Office of Learning
Technologies James E. Page, Executive Secretary; Stephen Loyd, Manager, Office of learning Technologies; Jean Pignal, Special Surveys Division, Statistics Canada. |
7 |
March 19, 1997 |
| Stentor Michael Murphy, Acting CEO; Ron Kelleson, National Director, International Commercial Affairs; Robert Tritt, National Director, Legal and Corporate Affairs. |
2 |
November 27, 1996 |
| Telefilm Canada François Macerola, Executive Director. |
3 |
December 2, 1996 |
| Teleglobe Canada Inc. Guthrie Stewart, President & CEO; Claude E. Forget, Special Advisor to the Chairman of the Board; Mariel Bradford, Vice-President, Corporate Affairs. |
1 |
October 23, 1996 |
| Telesat Canada Ted Ignacy, Vice-President, Finance and Treasurer; Robert Power, Director, Regulatory Matters. |
4 |
December 11, 1996 |
| As an Individual: David Silcox |
8 |
April 9, 1997 |
Fact-finding mission to Boston (February 1997)
| Canadian Consulate General | Donald Cameron Paul Desbiens, Deputy General Consul and First Trade Officer Bruce L. Barnett, Consul Nathalie Noël, Economic & Trade Policy Officer Bryan M. Baldwin, Economic & Trade Policy Officer |
| Harvard University | Anthony G. Oettinger, Chairman, Program on Information
Resources Policy John C.B. LeGates, Managing Director, Program on Information Resources Policy Martin L. Ernst, Program on Information Resources Policy Michael Bessey, Ph.D. Student, Program on Information Resources Policy Craig MacDonald, Fellow, The Center for International Affairs Michel Catinat, Fellow, The Centre for International Affairs W. Russell Neuman, The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Nicholas Negroponte, Director, The Media Laboratory David Riquier, Associate Director Communications, The Media Laboratory |
| Massachusetts Telecommunications Council | Laura Ring, Executive Director |
| Tufts University | Rebecca Goldfarb, Ph.D. Student, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy |