Stéphanie Paquette to les Jours de la radio 2024

Québec, Quebec
November 8, 2024

Stéphanie Paquette, Commissioner, Quebec
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)

Check against delivery

Hello,

I would like to begin by thanking the Association des radios communautaires du Québec for this wonderful invitation.  I’m delighted to be taking part in this conference for the first time. I think this year’s theme: ˝ Young people and the challenges they represent for radio ˝ is very important.

Before I begin, I would like to extend my thanks to the Huron-Wendat First Nation, as we are gathered here today on their unceded traditional territory.  I thank this nation for being the guardians of the region's lands and waters since time immemorial.

My intention today is to talk to you about radio, of course, but as this conference is a first for me, I would like to start by introducing myself.  I’m the Quebec Regional Commissioner for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC.  I was appointed a year ago now, almost to the day in fact, as I started in my new role on November 23, 2023.

I've spent my entire career in the media industry, notably at Société Radio-Canada and Videotron, with a stint in between in the digital and streaming world at Les Têtes à claques, which I'm sure you're familiar with. 

I'd like to go a little further back in my career to mention that I studied at the Université de Montréal, where I did a lot of student radio (at CISM) while working on my bachelor's degree.  It was there, in front of radio microphones, that my interest in our exciting industry grew to the point where I wanted to make it my career.   

And if I go back even further, I grew up in Gaspésie, in Saint-Jules de Cascapédia, to be precise. I'm telling you this because, when you come from a region like Baie des Chaleurs, you understand just how important a role community radio can play within the community. In my region, we listened to Cieu FM, and I can testify to the very unifying role the radio played (and certainly still plays) in the community.  By the way, I would like to say hello to anyone from Cieu who is here with us!

The CRTC's role: to regulate communications in the public interest

Now, let me tell you about the organization I work for, the CRTC, because I suspect that many people in the room are not fully familiar with our organization.  

The CRTC is an independent quasi-judicial tribunal that regulates the Canadian communications sector in the public interest.  When I started a year ago, I was surprised by the extent of the Commission's action. The overview of the industry is impressive, especially in these times of great upheaval.

We regulate broadcasting, of course, but also telecommunications and other related activities such as telemarketing, anti-spam, anti-phishing and other types of fraud in the field.

Our vision: affordable, high-quality telecommunications services

We have huge telecommunications projects underway to ensure that Canadians, wherever they are in the country, have access to reliable, affordable, high-quality services, while encouraging innovation. Our aim is to promote competition and investment in the development of our networks.

Here are three examples of important decisions in this area: 

• First, last year the CRTC established new cellular rules that allow mobile companies based in certain regions of the country to offer services across Canada using the networks of major telephone companies as mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs.
• In the same vein, but on the Internet side, we've just published an important decision allowing service providers to sell Internet services over the fibre-to-the-home networks of the country's major telephone companies, such as Bell and Telus.

I would like to emphasize that our approach to both mobility and the Internet is already producing results. We're seeing regional players like Videotron and Cogeco jump on the national bandwagon. Canadians can go online today and find cell phone and Internet packages from regional and national providers that didn't exist a few years ago.

• Finally, we support network deployment in remote areas through the Broadband Fund. In 2024 alone, this fund has invested nearly $389 million in 11 projects. In Quebec, among other things, we announced a major loan of nearly $80 million to the Kativik Regional Government to build more than 900 kilometres of fibre-optic transmission infrastructure. I should mention that the completion of this major project will not only create a fibre ring around the Nunavik region and connect all the communities in the Kativik region but will also provide a high-speed Internet connection to 42 key establishments, such as schools and health care centres.

As you can see, I could take all my allotted time to tell you more about our work in telecommunications, but we're here to talk about broadcasting, and more specifically, the future of radio. So without further ado, I’ll dive in.  

Modernizing our broadcasting system to promote Canadian and Indigenous content

The topic of the conference, “The New Generation,” strikes a chord with me because it sums up the greatest challenge facing broadcasting today: preserving and renewing audiences.

As you know, with the emergence of international online competition, the proliferation of on-demand content and, above all, the exodus of advertising revenues to digital platforms, broadcasters are finding it increasingly difficult to invest in their programming and adapt technologically to capture new audiences, particularly among young people. The situation is both simple and complex: our broadcasting ecosystem is out of balance. The needs are enormous, while revenues are falling and competition is multiplying. I use the word "broadcasters" because the problems affect all spheres of our ecosystem: broadcasters, commercial radio stations and community radio stations such as yours. 

It is within this context that we at the CRTC are working to modernize the regulatory framework for broadcasting in Canada. In a way, we're trying to recreate a balance in our ecosystem. As you know, in 2023 the government passed the Online Streaming Act, which sets the stage for online streaming services to contribute to Canadian and Indigenous content.

We have made significant progress since the Act received Royal Assent. We have launched nine public consultations and issued four decisions, with more to come. 

Our priority has been to integrate online businesses into our ecosystem and ensure that they participate financially. In this respect, our fourth decision, published last June, establishes base contributions of online services in support of Canadian broadcasting.

I'd like to take a few moments to talk about this decision, because it's an important step that particularly affects the French-language market.

The public record on which we based our decision was extensive. We received over 360 interventions from the public, and over 120 presentations which we heard during a three-week in-person public hearing. 

By the way, I arrived at the CRTC during this hearing. I met my colleagues in a room at the back of the hearing room. Seeing what goes on behind the scenes, I was struck not only by the scale of the operation, but also by the high level of expertise of the Commission's staff. I immediately felt that broadcasting was in good hands.

Many interventions came from francophone and Quebec groups – including broadcasters, creators and artists from all over Quebec. We were told about the essential role that news, music and other content play in communities. The ARCQ and other community radio representatives appeared to underline the urgent need for financial support to sustain community programming focused on local content and news. 

As such, based on the public record, our decision requires that streamers make a basic contribution of 5% of their Canadian revenues, starting in the current broadcasting year, which began on September 1.

These contributions focus on sectors with immediate needs including local radio and TV news and French-language content. 

I would like to point out that 0.5% of contributions from audio services will be allocated to the Community Radio Fund of Canada. The CRTC's decision recognizes the crucial role you play across the country, and the importance of supporting media like yours that are firmly rooted in their communities.

I realize that, despite this basic contribution, the needs and challenges remain immense, but this decision is a first step in support of Canadian and Indigenous content, including French-language content. It represents a key step (and not an end in itself) toward achieving the objectives the CRTC has set itself, which are as follows: 

• Firstly, we need to ensure support for Canadian and Indigenous content, including French-language content.
• Secondly, we need to ensure that this content reaches audiences and is discoverable.
• Thirdly, we need to ensure that news and information are available at local, regional and national levels in both official languages.

We know that to achieve these goals, we must retain certain aspects that have worked in the past, while adopting new approaches that will lead us to success in the future.

With this in mind, we will soon be launching a consultation on the modernization of radio processes. We believe that offering broadcasters greater flexibility and reducing their regulatory burden is a quick win for the industry. When it comes to rebalancing an ecosystem, redefining the rules of the game so that all players remain competitive in a changing environment is part of the solution.

I invite the ARCQ and its members to feel free to express their views on the subject. The consultation will open shortly, within a few weeks. It will be non-appearing, i.e., there will be no public hearing, enabling a rapid decision in 2025. 

As you know, your opinion is essential to the Commission. So, in the coming weeks, we will be launching not just one, but four consultations to advance the modernization of our regulatory framework.

• I've just told you about the first one on the modernization of radio. 
• The second will update the definition of Canadian content for the audiovisual sector.
• The third will examine the relationships between small, medium and large players in the traditional broadcasting system and continuous broadcasting.
• Finally, the fourth consultation will examine radio and audio broadcasting in Canada, including how to define audio content and ways to support Canadian music.

We will be holding public hearings in the spring as part of these last three consultations. Further details will be provided in our updated regulatory plan, which we expect to publish in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Online News Act: Google exemption ruling

This is not the only piece of legislation we are implementing. We are moving quickly to implement the Online News Act, which aims to help Canadian news organizations establish commercial agreements with the largest online distribution platforms.

As many of you know, online platforms that enter into agreements with news organizations can apply for an exemption from the obligation to negotiate with individual news organizations. This is the case for Google, which filed a claim in June after agreeing to pay $100 million a year through an information collective.

We're moving fast on this front too. We held a public consultation over the summer and at the end of October. We approved the application for exemption, which means that Google must pay the amount by the end of the year to the collective, which will then distribute the funds equitably to eligible Canadian media outlets.

Conclusion

So as you can see, there's no shortage of work to be done, and our ever-changing world never stands still! It raises other questions, such as that of artificial intelligence, which the CRTC intends to examine in upcoming consultations.

So, to return to the original question about young people, I'd like to say that we have them in mind through our various projects. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution or a miracle formula to announce today, but I'm convinced that part of the solution comes from you, the community radio stations, which are not only very close to your audiences, but also a gateway and a springboard for young people who, like me 30 years ago, want to work and have a career in the industry. 

The CRTC will continue to do everything in its power to create winning conditions for the industry. Our work to rebalance the ecosystem will hopefully make your platforms more competitive, helping you to win new audiences. We will continue to move quickly, because we know how important the new broadcasting framework is for the future of Canadian and Indigenous content.

And I would like to remind you that we need your ideas to define this framework.  

We'll be listening! Everyone has a role to play. We need to take advantage of existing opportunities and create new ones to keep our local community radios coming into our homes.

Thank you very much.