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Politics

    • Minister says online streaming rules will be platform-focused, CRTC has 'no intention' to regulate creators

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    Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is promising now that Bill C-11 has passed, that his coming policy direction to the regulator in charge of implementing the new rules will "be even more clear" that the contentious Online Streaming Act is "only about the platforms."

    "This is about the platforms, it's never about the user… It's not about the things you or I post online, even if what you post online is super cool, is very fun, we're not interested," said the minister in an interview with Vassy Kapelos, airing on CTV's Question Period on Sunday.

    Bill C-11 received royal assent on Thursday, clearing the way for the first substantive reforms to the Broadcasting Act since 1991 to come into effect. However, first the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has to craft the coinciding regulatory framework, determining how the new rules will be enforced. 

    Part of this process will see Rodriguez issue a policy directive to inform the CRTC’s work. According to the government, a first draft will be published in the Canada Gazette, for the public, artists, digital creators, and businesses to read and provide feedback on. That draft will then be updated and re-published, taking into consideration what they heard.

    Bill C-11 is aimed at ensuring increasingly popular and profitable social media platforms and streaming services such as Netflix, Crave, Spotify, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and YouTube are subjected to Canadian content requirements and regulations comparable to traditional broadcasters. The policy change comes with a requirement for these platforms to spend millions investing in Canadian content and creators.

    While the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, as well as many in the "CanCon" music, film, and television industries, backed Bill C-11, alarms have been sounded by critics including the Conservatives that the Liberal proposal could have knock-on effects for content creators and what everyday users see online, due to provisions that would require platforms to promote Canadian content. 

    The potential implications for user-generated online content remained a key sticking point throughout the bill's extensive parliamentary study over the last year, right up until the final vote. Before the Senate signed off Bill C-11, some senators tried unsuccessfully to include an amendment they felt would instill some certainty around the scope of the bill as it related to user content, but the government rejected it.

    In the interview, Rodriguez accused the Conservatives of spreading "disinformation" and trying to "stall" the bill. He restated that regulating what Canadians post online is "definitely not the intent on the bill. It's not the impact of the bill, either."

    "I'll be very clear, I'm sending a policy direction soon to the CRTC, it's going to be even more clear on that policy," he said. "It's only about the platforms and their own obligations."

    CRTC PLEDGES NOT TO REGULATE CREATORS

    In addition to the policy directive, CRTC-led public consultations will also inform how these new online streaming rules, and the enforcement of them, will work in practice.

    Issuing some initial assurance of the regulator's plans heading into this process, late Thursday, CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides said that the CRTC plans to develop a regulatory framework that will see all players contributing equitably, while vowing that the CRTC "has no intention to regulate creators of user-generated content and their content."

    "The broadcasting system will ensure that online streaming services make meaningful contributions to Canadian and Indigenous content. Creators will have opportunities to tell their stories and Canadians will have access to a greater variety and diversity of content," said Eatrides.

    The CRTC chair said that now that Bill C-11 has passed, the regulatory body is able to begin "building the broadcasting system of the future."

    "We will share our detailed plan and launch the first public consultations shortly. We will adapt our approach in light of any future policy direction. The views of all Canadians will be important at every step," read the CRTC chair's statement, inviting both traditional broadcasters and streaming services to provide feedback.

    Marking the bill's passage on Thursday, stakeholders both for and against the Broadcasting Act changes indicated plans to take part in the coming regulatory consultations, noting that the legislation receiving royal assent was not the end of the story. 

    Groups representing digital creators say they will be taking their push for concrete user content protections, while those backing the bill say they still want to see assurances that the regulatory framework created won't instill a two-tier system with traditional broadcasters and foreign streaming giants held to different standards. 

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    Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

    The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

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    The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

    Canada

    • Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

    • The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

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    • For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.

    • Five bison are dead at Elk Island National Park east of Edmonton following an early Thursday morning collision.

    • The head of a committee monitoring the government's response to the inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass killing says she's pleased with progress made so far.

    World

    Politics

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    • Lawyers representing the producers of 'Russians at War' say they may pursue legal action against Ontario's public broadcaster for pulling support for the controversial documentary amid outcry from the Ukrainian community and some Canadian politicians.

    • Viewers of Jeopardy got a chance to test their knowledge of trivia about B.C.'s biggest city Wednesday night.

    Business

    Lifestyle

    • They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

    Sports

    • Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he's been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season's playoffs.

    • Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette returned to the 10-day injured list Thursday due to a right middle finger fracture.

    Autos

    • An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

    • Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.

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    Local Spotlight

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    A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

    It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

    A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

    David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

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    • Getting a bed at one of British Columbia's drug detoxification facilities is like winning the lottery, the vice-president on the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council says.

    • B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

    • For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her 'worst nightmare.' On Feb. 7, her then three-year-old son Jacob along with his father Loc Phu 'Jay' Le departed for what was supposed to be a week-long visit to Vietnam to celebrate the Lunar New Year with family, McArthur says.

    • An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

    • In the middle of the small crowd — near the tents, the lineup of kids awaiting face painting, the snack table — stood a jubilant Chiara Padovani. 'When I say 'tenant, you say 'power,'' she commanded to several dozen tenants, who chanted back with gusto. What looked like a summer block party in front of two north-end Toronto apartment buildings last month was a celebration of what renters who withheld payments for months called a 'huge victory.'

    • Injury prevention experts are urging Calgarians to ride carefully as e-scooter crashes land hundreds of people in the hospital.

    • WEATHER

      WEATHER

      Friday will be cool and wet with intermittent showers likely through most of the day.

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      BREAKING NEWS

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    • Police say a man, 30, who was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot Thursday night has died.

    • Higher than average temperatures are in the forecast for Ottawa this Friday.

    • The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.

    • The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

    • Premier François Legault's approval rating continued to rise this summer, according to the Angus Reid Institute. After reaching a low at the end of 2023, his support rose by three percentage points over the summer to 39 per cent.

    • A mother and daughter say they woke up to flames encroaching on their third-floor apartment near Commonwealth Stadium early Friday morning.

    • WEATHER

      WEATHER

      The big weather story today won't really be rain, it'll be the cooler and breezier conditions.

    • Five bison are dead at Elk Island National Park east of Edmonton following an early Thursday morning collision.

    • Gas prices increased in all three Maritime provinces for the first time in more than a month.

    • A Nova Scotia woman has applied for a medically assisted death, saying after years of battling to receive out-of-country surgery for an illness that causes "indescribable" pain, she struggles to maintain the will to live.

    • A section of Herring Cove Road in the Spryfield area of Halifax is closed to traffic in both directions following a single-vehicle collision Friday morning.

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    • Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.

    • Manitobans are continuing to mop up after a deluge of rain hit southern Manitoba earlier in the week.

    • Regina Fire crews were sent to a duplex fire on Dewdney Avenue early Friday morning.

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    • A case involving stolen funds from a Saskatchewan business being used to purchase cryptocurrency will be heading back to the courts, thanks to a new decision by Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal.

    • Amber and Adam Brueckner have a pool-shaped hole in their backyard – and their wallets.

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    • Police are trying to identify a man who approached a woman and child in Wellesley.

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    • A case involving stolen funds from a Saskatchewan business being used to purchase cryptocurrency will be heading back to the courts, thanks to a new decision by Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal.

    • The past principal of a private Christian school in Saskatoon is facing three new criminal charges.

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    • Ontario Provincial Police executed a search warrant in Walkerton.

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    • Standing up, speaking out, and showing solidarity — survivors and supporters gathered in the core to take back the night in Windsor. The city is just one of a growing list of communities that have declared intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic.

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    • In a rare move, the Greater Victoria School District Board of Education has been slapped with a ministerial order from the province requiring it to update a student safety plan – drawing concern around political posturing leading up to an election.

    • The Union of B.C. Municipalities is asking the provincial government to make transit free for teenagers.

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    • A Vulcan, Alta., man has been charged with a Lethbridge woman's murder after her body was found in the Oyen area.

    • A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.

    • Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.

    • A new community health profile in the Algoma District shows the area is significantly below provincial averages in a number of health metrics.

    • North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.

    • Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.

    N.L.

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