Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know whether my comments are related to the Status of the Artist Act. In terms of the act, our association represents a number of directors in Quebec who have trouble expressing their views and negotiating reasonable agreements, or at least agreements that pay them decent wages.

Canadian Heritage committee  As you know, there's only one director per film set. You can't expect the directors to go on strike to obtain better conditions. They don't have any balance of power. For us, arbitration is the solution. It took us 15 years to negotiate a collective agreement with independent producers, and five years with the NFB.

Canadian Heritage committee  Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, for giving us the opportunity to speak before you today. My name is Gabriel Pelletier, and I am the president of the Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec. The ARRQ is an association of artists and a professional union that has been legally accredited and recognized under status of the artist legislation, both provincially and federally, to represent and defend the interests of all directors working in Quebec, in French and in any language other than English, in the fields of film, television, the Web and animation.

Canadian Heritage committee  We always put our trust in the CRTC in imposing requirements on broadcasters. We believe in our institutions. Of course, the CRTC will have to be provided with ways in which it can act. However, we are recommending keeping the ability to appeal to the governor in council to set aside CRTC decisions.

Canadian Heritage committee  The Copyright Act has a similar mechanism. We are aware that reviews of that kind are difficult and complex. The world is changing so quickly. Bill C-10 is already playing catch-up. It is really urgent to act. That has been said over and over again. So it is a good idea to review—

Canadian Heritage committee  Exactly. Our entire industry depends on the jobs, the creative contribution and the intellectual property it will generate.

Canadian Heritage committee  We feel that Bill C-10 opens the door too wide and gives too much flexibility to foreign platforms in particular. The current version of the act has an objective of using Canadian talent predominantly. We would like that to be included in the bill. By giving too much flexibility to the foreign platforms, we are afraid that they will not use our local talent, that they will have fewer obligations in that regard, and they will make do with a simple financial contribution.

Canadian Heritage committee  First, we are in favour of the bill and I feel that we said that clearly when we started. We have some fears and we want it to have more teeth. As francophone creators, our biggest fear is that it does not provide adequate protection for the jobs of creators, both francophone and anglophone, and also for content in French.

Canadian Heritage committee  The NFB's budgets are not annualized, and its mandate has expanded over the years. It has a very expensive digital platform that it has to maintain. This raises concerns, because the only cuts it has been able to make are in production. The fixed costs are increasing from one year to the next.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, you have interpreted it correctly. I have also heard the CMPA make a request about the process, that the CRTC be able to set rules for the negotiations between broadcasters and producers. As we have seen, the major platforms want to have all the intellectual property and to make use of it as they wish.

Canadian Heritage committee  Actually, the bill does not specifically mention it, but there is already a linguistic concern in the current version of the act. We want to have the rightful place of the French language recognized and promoted. Of course we welcome Ms. Joly's concern. We want to see the same concern about the rightful place of the French language in broadcasting.

Canadian Heritage committee  Second, we need to reinforce the purpose with respect to original French-language content. If the text of the Broadcasting Act is not strengthened in this regard, major online companies, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, will be able to continue to present content dubbed or subtitled in French, with little or no original French-language content.

Canadian Heritage committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Gabriel Pelletier, and I'm the president of the Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ). Joining me today is our executive director, Mylène Cyr. The ARRQ is a professional association with almost 800 members.

Industry committee  I was saying simply that we negotiate our rights and Mrs. Messier was saying that producers were authors, which I disagree with.

Industry committee  I would like to correct something. In our collective agreement with the AQPM, directors do not receive royalties paid at the outset out of the funds that went into a production. Once the original broadcasting licence is given, there are royalties on subsequent sales. In fact, it is the ARRQ that collects the royalties.