Canadian Heritage committee  I very much agree. Thank you. Maybe I could turn to Mr. Skolnik. BillC-11 has important provisions to support our programming specifically for historically overlooked communities. Can you speak to how Bill C-11 will be important to our cultural identity and our community, and how that window is closing and this timing is critical?

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to our witnesses. I appreciate your being here. I'll begin the questioning through you, Madam Chair, to Professor Saulnier. You did a wonderful job explaining how, as a nation, we've reacted in the past in regard to media and culture over the decades and how we've protected our culture.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, please do.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Payette. Madam Chair, I believe that's my time.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll keep going if I can.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the witnesses. I appreciate your time and your testimony. I would like to start with Monsieur Payette from the Professional Music Publishers' Association. You mentioned that publishing and songwriting are linked, and that's a sector that's seeing first-hand the effects of technology and media evolving and the impact it's had on artists.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. We've just heard testimony that some people believe that this legislation shouldn't be updated for years. Do you think our Canadian artists have that kind of time?

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all the witnesses. I appreciate you being here, and I appreciate your expertise. Mr. Dimitrakopoulos, maybe I will start with you. We have heard today, and we have heard before, that it's common for artists to spend years working on projects and then only get paid once a work is released.

Canadian Heritage committee  Okay, no problem there. Maybe I could ask it this way. Are there any other sectors in our economy in Canada that do use income averaging?

Canadian Heritage committee  I wasn't aware myself. I just wanted to clear that up. Maybe I could then ask Monsieur Beaulieu. There are different types of income averaging. I have looked into block averaging, general income averaging, general forwarding averaging. Which one is Quebec looking into? As an expert on taxes for artists, do you have a preference?

Canadian Heritage committee  It does, and I wish you could, but I'm out of time. Thank you.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all of our panellists for being here today, and expressing the importance of what you're doing. I would like to continue that line of questioning with Mr. Brault. You mentioned that 50% of the recipients were first time, that balance between core funded and first-time recipients.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm certainly glad to hear that, thank you. In line with that, more artists are looking to technology to expand their careers, and the pandemic has highlighted the importance of that. Are there streams of funding, through Canada Council for the Arts, for training, specifically for digitalization and promotion, that can help share in our stories not only across Canada, as you mentioned, but internationally, as we are really strong at exporting our own talent to the world?

Canadian Heritage committee  That's encouraging to hear, thank you. Maybe I could direct my questions to Mr. Ripley at Canadian Heritage. Listening to our artists during the pandemic—besides listening to them in their art— and listening to their feedback, as you just heard, is so important because of the lessons we can learn.

Canadian Heritage committee  It was on the definition of producer that captures independents.