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New legislation would bring streaming services, along with virtually all other audio-visual material transmitted over the internet, under the auspices of the Broadcasting Act

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Sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. These famous words used to usher in viewers of The Outer Limits, but they could more aptly describe the designs of the CRTC, the broadcasting regulator that Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government seems intent on putting in charge of anything that moves or makes a sound.

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Like an episode of The Outer Limits, watching the current heritage committee hearings over Bill C-11 which would bring streaming services along with virtually all other audio-visual material transmitted over the internet under the auspices of the Broadcasting Act comes with a risk of a foreboding sense of dj vu.

The CRTC first alluded to its desire to regulate online streaming back in 2013. At the time, the idea was being pushed by Canadas big broadcasters, who were concerned about the threat posed by online competitors such as Netflix and justifiably worried that our outdated Canadian content (CanCon) rules put them at a competitive disadvantage vis-a-vis foreign companies who werent being forced to pay into the Canada Media Fund or buy substandard Canadian content to fill a quota.

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The proper solution has always been to stop forcing Canadian broadcasters to invest in domestic content that isnt financially viable just because it happens to tick enough of the CRTCs CanCon-certification boxes. But this would surely be met with significant backlash from Canadian filmmakers, who have spent decades happily milking their sheltered position, free from the constraints of competing for financing based on the merits of their projects.

Though the CRTCs initial push to regulate streaming ultimately went nowhere, in Canada, bad ideas rarely seem to die. And so, last spring, the Liberals revived the idea in the form of Bill C-10.

Granted, much had changed since 2013: the number of streaming services proliferated with large companies like Apple, Amazon and Disney entering the game and an increasing number of Canadians cut the proverbial cord.

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Yet there still wasnt much of a case to be made for forcing Hollywood and Silicon Valley to abide by Ottawas outmoded CanCon rules, which were born out of a uniquely Canadian fear that the only thing preventing us from being culturally steamrolled by the Americans was a patchwork of draconian regulations and taxpayer subsidies.

Quite the opposite, in fact. The huge push for content by companies competing for digital subscribers has been a boon to Canadas film and television industry one can hardly watch a show on Netflix, Amazon or HBO without spotting a location in Toronto or Vancouver.

According to data from the Canadian Media Producers Association,the money spent on foreign productions here in Canada dwarfs what is spent on Canadian film and television content. In 2020, foreign location and service production was worth $5.25 billion, or 56 per cent of total Canadian film and television spending, and supported 139,310 jobs, compared to 81,180 for Canadian content.

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Though it would seem counter-intuitive to disrupt a system that provides so many economic benefits, CanCon regulations are not intended to protect the Canadian film industry as a whole, but to ensure the right type of films get made i.e., the ones telling Canadian stories. Its basically a make-work project for Canadian producers, directors and screenwriters.

And yet, the reason Bill C-10 never became law is because the Liberals went one step further and proposed regulating all online audio-visual material, including videos uploaded to sites like YouTube and TikTok.

The backlash from social media users and amateur content creators was swift, and resulted in the heritage minister first promising to make it crystal clear that the content people upload on social media wont be considered as programming under the act, and then allowing the bill to die on the order paper.

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Which makes it all the more puzzling why, when the Liberals reintroduced the legislation in the form of C-11, they once again chose to treat social media sites as if they were no different than cable companies or streaming services.

Judging by the testimony before the heritage committee over the past few weeks, these measures are opposed by both the sites themselves and the Canadians who share content on them. The only people who seem to support them are the Liberals and the usual crowd who think no industry should be free from the control of our benevolent overlords in Ottawa.

I wish I could tell you precisely how the legislation would affect those who share or consume user-generated media, but it appears as though even the government doesnt know for sure.

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When asked whether Sec. 4.2 of the act, which lists very broad criteria for what exactly would be considered a program for the purposes of regulation, would include content posted to social media, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez insisted it would not.Yet he was directly contradicted by Ian Scott, chair of the CRTC, who said that, 4.2 allows the CRTC to prescribe by regulation user uploaded content subject to very explicit criteria.

That very specific criteria includes content uploaded to an online undertaking that directly or indirectly generates revenues for a social media service. Given that sites such as YouTube make money from ads placed before videos, this could potentially encompass anything that is uploaded.

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But dont worry, because Scott insists the CRTC has no interest in regulating your cat videos,even though it will have the power to do so. It is not the focus of the CRTC, he said. We have lots of things to do. We dont need to start looking at user-generated content.

So there you have it. We just have to trust that this government, or any future government, will not abuse the extraordinary powers being granted to it. Just like we trusted the Liberals not to invoke an act intended for war or insurrection when a bunch of their ideological opponents decided to camp out in Ottawa. What could possibly go wrong?

One thing that is certain is that the legislation would force online undertakings (to) clearly promote and recommend Canadian programming and ensure that any means of control of the programming generates results allowing its discovery. In other words, it would compel services such as YouTube and Netflix to alter their algorithms to promote Canadian over international content a measure that even Canadian YouTubers dont seem to want.

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Representatives from YouTube have argued that this will end up backfiring because the algorithm will be forced to recommend content that viewers have little interest in watching, which will make the system less likely to recommend those videos to others. While true, it is also the case that a company like Google could tweak its algorithm to account for this bias. But thats not really the point.

The larger problem is a government that thinks it has the right to dictate how a private companys software operates; a government that is so intent on giving its regulatory agency total control over the internet that it is insisting on putting provisions in the bill that prevented the legislation from passing last time around and its own regulator insists it doesnt have any interest in using.

But do not attempt to adjust the picture, for this is Canada, where the Liberals will control all that you see and hear.

National Postjkline@postmedia.comTwitter.com/accessd

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Jesse Kline: C-11 will allow Liberals to control all that you see and hear online - National Post