There Online Streaming Law was eventually sanctioned. She comes to fix that Broadcasting Act to ensure fair treatment of all companies broadcasting programs to Canadians. With this update, Canadian broadcasting legislation applies to Canadian or foreign companies that provide audio or audiovisual programming to the Canadian public.

The law concerns the activities of for-profit broadcasting programs of any kind. It is the activity of broadcasting programs on the Internet or in any other environment that is regulated. As explained by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). in a document Aiming to debunk certain views about this law, it is the online platforms that are being targeted, not the people uploading content.

The law does not aim to regulate the reduced use of devices capable of producing sound and images. These are activities that have a tangible impact on the effective availability of programming that springs from Canadian creativity. The CRTC also has the power to exempt from the application of the requirements of the law companies whose activities do not pose particular problems for the achievement of the broadcasting policy objectives set out in the law. For this reason, claims that the law can regulate influencers who have a channel on YouTube are bogus.

For nearly a century, our regulation of electronic media has aimed to fill the gap in Canadian programming. To ensure genuine decisions, it differs from what prevails in the United States. The Online Broadcasting Act is a continuation of the measures that have so far made it possible to create a media system that offers one of the largest selections of programming for a diverse audience. To address the lack of Canadian programming to compete with American productions, authorities have taken steps to ensure that some revenue generated from content consumption is reinvested in the production of Canadian programming. This approach is now being extended to online platforms.

The Canadian Broadcasting Policy Statement, enshrined in the Broadcasting Act, reaffirms that French- and English-language broadcasting differ in terms of operating conditions and recognizes the minority context of French in North America. The need to reflect Canadian diversity in program selection is affirmed.

It states that the broadcasting system, through its programming and the employment opportunities it provides, must meet the needs and interests of all Canadians—particularly those who come from racially influenced communities or represent diversity because of their ethnocultural background, socioeconomic status. abilities and disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and age – and reflect their condition and desires, including equality, the linguistic duality and the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society, and the special place Aboriginal people hold.

In addition, the law requires promoting the vitality of minorities and supporting their development, and promoting the full recognition and use of French and English in Canadian society.

To put an end to claims that this law would allow the government to decide what programming individuals can watch, it should be recalled that Article 2(3) provides that it be applied with respect for freedom of expression and independence must journalism, creation and programming, popular with broadcasters and creatives.

To give effect to the general statements of the law, the CRTC will be given the power to require not only reinvestment in Canadian productions, but also the implementation of measures to ensure Canadian programming is viewable and discoverable in connected environments. The implementation of these measures will be the subject of consultations with all interested parties. Therefore, care must be taken public consultations that the CRTC will conduct in the coming months.

In order to provide the appropriate regulatory framework for rapidly changing situations, sufficiently flexible rules are required to regulate activities with sometimes unforeseeable developments. But above all, we need a much more proactive CRTC, willing to give itself the means to anticipate change so as not to be overwhelmed when the targeted activities take on vectors that are currently marginal or unknown. The regulator must anticipate trends and intervene when changes in practices, technologies or markets create imbalances. That is the daunting challenge that this law poses to online broadcasting.

Professor Pierre Trudel teaches media and information technology law at the University of Montreal.

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