The recent remarks by author Margaret Atwood and Senator David Adams Richards have sparked more debate about the government’s Bill C-11. Atwood recently weighed in to say that “bureaucrats should not tell creators what to write,” while the senator compared the Department of Canadian Heritage to the Nazi propaganda machine. Neither appears to have done the work to understand the bill or why the government will direct the CRTC to review Canadian content definitions.

The Canadian content system has been in place for more than 30 years. One key definition (and there are different definitions for different purposes) is found in regulations to the Income Tax Act. Film and television productions that meet this definition are eligible for the highest level of tax credit. It is an incentive system and not a requirement, but it helps Canadian companies solve “the small market problem” of having to compete with the dominant, larger market located south of us. Nothing in the definition of Canadian content prevents Canadians from making or broadcasting any type of content they want.

The definition reflects a hybrid policy – part industrial and part cultural. The industrial part is that the owner of the content – the copyright holder – that receives the tax credit must be a Canadian company. This is critical.

Ownership of intellectual property is the key to building a sustainable industry. The cultural part is the point system that requires key creative elements – writers, director, actors, etc., to be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

The actual content of a production – the content of Atwood’s or Senator Richards’ stories – is not part of the equation and is not reviewed by bureaucrats.  The government took subjectivity out of the definition and based the cultural component simply on employment in key creative positions.

Atwood and Senator Richards are experts in their craft. In their statements about Bill C-11, which is back at the House of Commons for review after passing its third reading at the Senate, they are simply wrong.

The results of this hybrid policy have been wildly successful. Canadian content productions have been key to ensure our own presence on our own screens, to develop a domestic export industry and to advance the careers of thousands of Canadian writers, directors and actors.

So why is the government asking the CRTC to look at the definitions for Canadian content after Bill C-11 is passed? The broadcasting sector has moved online. Canada no longer has a walled garden distribution system but is part of a global one.

It is long past time that we review our industry incentives and adapt them to the new online realities. The bill will give the CRTC the clear mandate to collect evidence, hear from Canadians and evaluate what works and what does not in the online world – and nothing will ever be set in stone.

Many of the groups aligned against Bill C-11 want to use the Cancon review as a reason to stop the bill.  On the industry side of the policy, they do not want any future definition of Cancon to require that copyright be owned by Canadians. On the cultural side, ironically, they propose a definition based on how “Canadian” a production appears or perhaps on the brand recognition of a particular novelist. This would, indeed, involve bureaucrats sticking their nose into what creators write.

We have a choice to make as a country – it is the same choice Canadians had in 1930, 1950, 1970, and 1990: participate in our own broadcasting and content system or exist as a cultural colony. When the CBC launched in the 1930s, the proposition was “The State or the United States.” Today, it’s “Regulate now or regret later.”

Since 2016, Brad Danks, J.D, has been the CEO of Vancouver-headquartered OUTtv Media Global Inc., (OMG) the world’s largest producer and aggregator of original LGBTQ+ film and television content. Brad began his career as an entertainment lawyer with a distinguished practice that included working for many U.S. and international studios, broadcasters and financiers of entertainment content. He joined the television network OUTtv as COO in 2006 where he worked to grow the business in Canada until becoming CEO. Brad is an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Victoria.