Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Minister, more people in Quebec today subscribe to streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney than to cable television. The discoverability of French-language content is suffering as a result.

That’s why many people are saying that it’s time that Radio-Canada, TVA+ and Noovo joined forces to create a single platform that would replace ICI tou.tv, Illico+ and Crave, a platform to which we could also add the NFB’s treasure trove of content.

Since all these companies fall under federal jurisdiction, do you intend to promote this idea? Are you going to meet the heads of these companies to find out their positions on this issue and encourage them to join forces rather than remain mere competitors, all crushed by American competition?

Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages: Thank you for the question. You talked about discoverability, which is an important concept I introduced in Bill C-11.

Two places in the world do this: the European Union and Canada. Thanks to Bill C-11, since taking on this portfolio, I’ve met with a number of those CEOs, but not all of them. There was no talk of creating a single platform.

This is obviously something we have to pay close attention to. We can see what’s happening south of the border, where the government is trying to dictate what public and private broadcasters should or shouldn’t say. I think we need to be very cautious. What I can tell you is that, if these corporations or the public broadcaster decided to join forces and told the government they wanted to do that kind of thing, I’d be very open to that suggestion. I think it has to come from them and can’t really come from the government.

Senator Miville-Dechêne: You don’t necessarily have an opinion on the matter. Is that right?

Mr. Guilbeault: Honestly, I’m not an expert on the issue of platforms even though I’m very interested in it.

Would it be better to have a single platform? Again, I can say that I would have serious reservations about the federal government ordering them to do things that way. If they want to come to the federal government and ask us to work with them because that’s how they want to do things, I’d be very open to the idea. However, it really has to come from the sector, not from us.