Quebec Culture Minister Mathieu Lacombe tabled a bill today that would force streaming giants to add French-language content and make it more easily accessible to users.
Bill 109 has been in the works for over a year. It marks the first time that Quebec would set a “visibility quota” for French-language content on major streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney and Spotify.
The bill comes as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) undertakes a two-week public hearing on a new definition of Canadian content that started last Wednesday.
The proceeding is part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act — and it is bringing tensions between traditional players and large foreign streamers out in the open.
Lacombe said at a news conference on Wednesday that Quebec is following the example of European Union countries’ policy on streaming services by not limiting French-language content quotas to Quebec productions.
“This is the bet we are making, that is to say, to ally ourselves with the French-speaking community because [protecting French] is a common fight after all.”
In an interview with Radio-Canada, Lacombe explained that making French-language content readily available to Quebecers on digital platforms is part of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s vision for protecting French.
Only 8.5 per cent of music people listen to in Quebec is in French, which is “very little,” according to Lacombe. He said he wants to reverse that trend for younger generations.
“Discoverability means being able to stumble across something, to discover it when you weren’t actively looking for it,” Lacombe said.
Making French web interfaces the default
The legislation, titled An Act to affirm the cultural sovereignty of Quebec and to enact the Act respecting the discoverability of French-language cultural content in the digital environment, would apply to every digital platform that offers a service for watching videos or listening to music and audiobooks online.
Those include Canadian platforms such as Illico, Crave and Tou.tv.
It would amend the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to enshrine “the right to discoverability of and access to original French-language cultural content.”
If the bill is adopted, streaming platforms and television manufacturers would be forced to present interfaces for screening online videos in French by default.
Those interfaces would need to provide access to platforms that offer original French-language cultural content based on the government’s pending criteria.
Financial penalties would be imposed on companies that don’t follow the rules.
If the business models of some companies prevent them from keeping to the letter of the proposed law, companies would be allowed to enter into an agreement with the Quebec government to set out “substitute measures” to fulfil Bill 109 obligations differently.
“We don’t want to exempt them. We’re telling them, ‘let’s negotiate substitute measures,'” Lacombe told reporters.
Bill 109 would impose quotas on online streaming services like Disney, Spotify and others to make French-language content more visible and accessible for users.
Impact on trade relations?
Lacombe noted that the bill complies with the terms of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), but acknowledged that with the tense economic context, the Trump administration might view his initiative as a way to further disrupt trade relations.
If the U.S. administration challenges the bill once it’s adopted, the Quebec government plans to invoke the exception that excludes cultural property from trade agreements, Lacombe said.
“We must not fear the United States’ reaction and stop ourselves from taking action,” he said, noting that the Biden administration was also opposed to the cultural exception. “If we do that, we would directly contradict the principle of cultural exception [in trade agreements]. What’s the point if we don’t use it?”
Lacombe said he thinks the bill will show that Quebec can stand up to major digital players.
“Initially, I think many saw me as a young, naive minister who thought he could control the giants. Since then, we have demonstrated that we have the capacity to act, and we are acting,” he said.
Earlier Wednesday morning, Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau told reporters that the government also needs to intervene to help local productions “find their public.” He said Quebec producers risk hindering the quality of their content because of the need to cut costs.
“The government has to protect not only the public and the spectators but the industry, the producers, the jobs that are generated by a very high-quality industry that is fighting against giants, and they’re not having the same arms to compete,” Arseneau said.
