Netflix deal trips up Joly in Quebec
Artists’ union says anger is spreading
MONTREAL • Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly is one of the federal government’s most prominent Quebec members, a young dynamo who is supposed to shore up Liberal fortunes in the province.
But since her announcement last week of an agreement with Netflix that spares the American streaming service from being taxed and guarantees no funding for French-language content, she has been savaged in Quebec media, artistic and political circles.
Reaction to the agreement, presented by the government as a good-news story because Netflix will invest $500 million over five years in Canadian productions, has been overwhelmingly negative in Quebec.
Provincial Culture Minister Luc Fortin last week accused Ottawa of abdicating its responsibilities because there is no provision for a minimum of French-language content in the Netflix deal.
“You can’t rely on the invisible hand of the market to ensure that French will turn up on digital platforms,” he said, describing himself as speechless and angry.
In high-profile radio and television interviews, Joly has struggled to sell the new policy. On Radio-Canada’s Tout le monde en parle TV talk show, financial reporter Gérald Fillion grew frustrated as he sought an explanation for why Joly would not require a tax on Netflix, while Canadian streaming services are taxed. “It seems like you are not hearing us,” he said.
Paul Arcand, the popular morning show host on Montreal’s 98.5FM, accused Joly of “magical thinking” and called her explanation for exempting Netflix from the GST confused.
“You can’t be naive and sign blank cheques for American multinationals,” Arcand said. He referred to her responses as “a nice cassette.”
The cassette label is one that has stuck to Joly because of her reputation for reciting scripted answers regardless of the question. The Montreal novelty T-shirt company Mercerie Roger came out with a “Mélanie” T-shirt Tuesday. In the style of a Netflix logo with the minister’s name replacing the company name, it has a download bar at the bottom saying “cassette loading.”
On Tuesday, Joly met with representatives of Quebec’s cultural and media industry in an unsuccessful attempt to ease their concerns. Sophie Prégent, president of the Union des artistes, said Joly failed to appreciate the degree of anger.
“I think she really thought that the Netflix agreement was a respite for us, but it’s the opposite: the fire has spread everywhere,” Prégent told the Presse Canadienne.
Hélène Messier, president of the Association québécoise de la production médiatique, which represents independent film, TV and web producers, attended the meeting with Joly.
“I think what has shocked people is the impression that the salvation of the funding of Canadian culture lies in this type of agreement with American giants,” Messier said in an interview.
“Culture is an important economic sector but it is also an important part of our identity,” she said.
“Quebec has always battled to maintain its language and its culture, so we have been wary of the standardization of cultures, the Americanization of cultures. … It is being seen as an abdication of Canadian cultural sovereignty, giving away the keys to the kingdom.”
The next federal election is still two years away, but there is reason for the Liberals to be concerned at how Quebecers have turned on one of their own.
Joly, 38, is a relative newcomer to politics; her debut came in 2013 when she ran to be mayor of Montreal, finishing a surprising second to Denis Coderre. After vowing to remain active in municipal politics and run in the next municipal election, she was recruited by her friend Justin Trudeau in 2015 and was elected to Parliament in the Montreal riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
Dismissing the complaints of Quebec’s artistic community as inconsequential would be a mistake.
In the 2008 federal election campaign, Conservative leader Stephen Harper defended his government’s cuts to arts funding by mocking artists “at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough.” The backlash in Quebec was intense, and the Conservatives saw their share of the vote in the province slip.
Messier said the Quebec arts community had high hopes for the Liberals after “10 years of cultural mistreatment” under the Conservatives. “I think that has made the disappointment even greater,” she said.