Legislative

summary <div>A legislative

summary is currently being prepared for this bill by the Parliamentary Information and Research Service of the Library of Parliament. Meanwhile, the following executive

summary is available.<br/><br/>On 3 November 2020, the Minister of Canadian Heritage introduced Bill C-10,

An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, in the House of Commons and it was given first reading. <br/><br/>Bill C-10 amends amends the Broadcasting Act to, among other things,<br/>(

a) add online undertakings — undertakings for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet — as a distinct class of broadcasting undertakings;<br/>(

b) update the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in

section 3 of that Act by, among other things, providing that the Canadian broadcasting system should serve the needs and interests of all Canadians — including Canadians from racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds — and should provide opportunities for Indigenous persons, programming that reflects Indigenous cultures and that is in Indigenous languages, and programming that is accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities;<br/>(

c) specify that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the “Commission”) must regulate and supervise the Canadian broadcasting system in a manner that<br/>(

i) takes into account the different characteristics of Indigenous language broadcasting and the different conditions under which broadcasting undertakings that provide Indigenous language programming operate,<br/>(ii) is fair and equitable as between broadcasting undertakings providing similar services,<br/>(iii) facilitates the provision of programs that are accessible without barriers to persons with disabilities, and<br/>(iv) takes into account the variety of broadcasting undertakings to which that Act applies and avoids imposing obligations on a class of broadcasting undertakings if doing so will not contribute in a material manner to the implementation of the broadcasting policy;<br/>(

d) amend the procedure relating to the issuance by the Governor in Council of policy directions to the Commission;<br/>(

e) replace the Commission’s power to impose conditions on a licence with a power to make orders imposing conditions on the carrying on of broadcasting undertakings;<br/>(

f) provide the Commission with the power to require that persons carrying on broadcasting undertakings make expenditures to support the Canadian broadcasting system;<br/>(

g) authorize the Commission to provide information to the Minister responsible for that Act, the Chief Statistician of Canada and the Commissioner of Competition, and set out in that Act a process by which a person who submits certain types of information to the Commission may designate the information as confidential;<br/>(

h) amend the procedure by which the Governor in Council may, under

section 28 of that Act, set aside a decision of the Commission to issue, amend or renew a licence or refer such a decision back to the Commission for reconsideration and hearing;<br/>(

i) specify that a person shall not carry on a broadcasting undertaking, other than an online undertaking, unless they do so in accordance with a licence or they are exempt from the requirement to hold a licence;<br/>(

j) harmonize the punishments for offences under

Part II of that Act and clarify that a due diligence defence applies to the existing offences set out in that Act; and<br/>(

k) allow for the imposition of administrative monetary penalties for violations of certain provisions of that Act or of the Accessible Canada Act.<br/>The enactment also makes related and consequential amendments to other Acts.</div> House of Commons — First reading: Completed (2020-11-03) House of Commons — Second reading: Completed (2021-02-16) House of Commons — Consideration in committee: Completed (2021-06-14) House of Commons — Report stage: Completed (2021-06-21) House of Commons — Third reading: Completed (2021-06-21) Senate — First reading: Completed (2021-06-22) Senate — Second reading: Completed (2021-06-29) Senate — Consideration in committee: No activity

Full bill text is not included in the LEGISinfo JSON export. Open the official Parliament of Canada bill page for the complete document.