Bill C-11, a.k.a. the Online Streaming Act, is returning to the House of Commons after passing its third reading in the Senate on Thursday evening (Feb. 2).

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage approved 26 amendments to the proposed update to the decades-old Broadcasting Act during the clause-by-clause review, and began the third reading deliberations when Parliament resumed this week. The third-reading process saw several additional amendments put forward during the Senate debate, but none passed.

Both Houses must now agree on the same version of the bill before it can receive royal assent and be passed into law with approval by the Governor General or another designated representative of the Crown. If passed, Minister for Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (pictured) will then send directives to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on how to interpret certain sections ahead of public consultations and the drafting of regulations.

Rodriquez told delegates at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s (CMPA) Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Thursday that the bill could become law as early as next week “if all goes well.”

In a moderated chat, the Heritage Minister said it will take a few days to examine the amendments to make sure they align with the “objective” of the bill, which he described as something that will “strengthen the system” and ensure there is a “level playing field” between Canadian and foreign players in the market. Rodriguez added he expects many of the Senate’s amendments will be accepted.

C-11 also made history as the longest Senate committee study of a bill to date. “Eighty witnesses in the House, 12 meetings, 52 briefs in the Senate, 138 witnesses, 31 meetings, 70 hours, 73 [proposed] amendments… it took awhile,” said Rodriguez.

One of the biggest sticking points of the bill for audiovisual creators has been sections 3(1)(f) and 3(1)(f.1), which concern the use of “Canadian creative and other human resources,” including Canadian screenwriters.

Sections 3(1)(f) says “Canadian broadcasting undertaking shall employ and make maximum use, and in no case less than predominant use” of such talent, while the other section says “each foreign online undertaking shall make the greatest practicable use of” them.

The Writers Guild of Canada issued a news release this week saying those sections as currently drafted “create two different standards for the use of Canadian creative resources – one for traditional Canadian broadcasters, and a lesser standard for foreign streamers.” As such, Canadian creators and stories are “at risk of being cut out of the system,” said the release, which echoed those of some others in the industry.

Rodriguez addressed the concern during Prime Time, stating that his team is “looking at different options” to consider such input, including within policy directives to the CRTC, which will be released following the passage of the bill.

CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin tells Playback Daily that the association will be “counting on the Minister to ensure that the policy direction makes it very clear that foreign streaming services need to contribute in a commensurate way to Canadian broadcasters, and that we can’t see any kind of a race to the bottom as a result of having this two-tier provision in the bill. ”

He adds that the CMPA has been working for “months” to prepare to help the Liberal government on its policy direction to the CRTC, as well as to prepare for the public consultations to come as the CRTC forms its regulatory policies under the amended Broadcasting Act.

During his Prime Time appearance, Rodriguez also said that the Department of Heritage was preemptively allocated “a couple million” in the previous federal budget to spend on additional resources for the CRTC following the passage of the bill.

The Directors Guild of Canada and ACTRA are among the other stakeholders that raised concerns about C-11 to the Senate Committee, pointing to a clause that would exempt online undertakings from the Status of the Artist Act. However, the Senate passed an amendment to remove the clause.

With files from Victoria Ahearn