On motion of Peter Julian, it was agreed, — That Dr. Nick Bontis, Sean Heffernan (Chief Financial Officer for Soccer Canada) and Victor Montagliani be summoned to appear before the Committee at a time, date and location to be determined by the Chair and the Clerk of the Committee, but not later than Friday, March 31, 2023.

The witnesses made statements and answered questions.

At 12:45 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 12:46 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Rachael Thomas moved, — That, pursuant to the Order of Reference from the House dated Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Committee invite the Minister of Canadian Heritage to appear for no fewer than two hours regarding the Main Estimates 2023-2024, and that this meeting take place as soon as possible, and no later than May 31, 2023.

After debate, the question was put on the motion and it was agreed to.

Rachael Thomas moved, — That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee invite the Minister of Canadian Heritage to appear for no fewer than two hours regarding the subject matter of the Supplementary Estimates (C) 2022-2023, and that this meeting take place as soon as possible, and no later than April 30, 2023.

After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee invite the Minister of Canadian Heritage to appear for no fewer than two hours regarding the subject matter of the Supplementary Estimates (C) 2022-2023, and that this meeting take place on the same day as the Minister's appearance at committee for the Main Estimates 2023-24.

Anthony Housefather moved, — That, given the dominant market position of Meta and Google and each company’s recent actions in Canada which appear to be attempts to intimidate Parliament and which follow a pattern of repeated subversive tactics used by tech giants across the world to prevent accountability, the committee undertake a study on tech giants’ current and ongoing use of intimidation and subversion tactics to evade regulation in Canada and across the world, and that as such, the committee hold a minimum of 5 meetings; and that, as part of this study;

(I) The committee summon Meta executives to testify following their renewed threat to leave the Canadian news market;

(a) That Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman of Meta Platforms Inc., Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs and Chris Saniga, Head of Canada for Meta, be ordered to appear before the committee for no less than two hours at a publicly televised meeting;

(b) That Meta Platforms Inc., and its subsidiaries, be ordered to provide:

(i) All internal and external communications (including but not limited to emails, texts or other forms of messages) related to actions it planned to take or options it considered or is considering in relation to all Canadian regulation since January 1, 2020, including that under Bill C-18, including but not limited to, restricting the sharing of news content on its platforms in Canada.

(ii) Any internal documents, memos or internal communications relating to the impact of the company on the Canadian journalism sector since January 1, 2020.

That this be delivered to the committee no later than 5PM ET on March 31st, 2023.

(II) The Committee notes that in accordance with its motion adopted on February 28th, 2023, on its study of the activities of Google in reaction to Bill C-18, the Committee received a letter on March 17, 2023 whereby Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer at Alphabet Inc. and Richard Gingras, Vice-President of News at Google have agreed to appear before the Committee for no less than two hours at a public televised meeting. The Committee shall incorporate that meeting into this study.

(III) That a minimum of two meetings be allocated to hear from government officials, civil society and experts from other jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the European Union and Australia that have experienced tactics similar to those being used in Canada.

(IV) That one meeting be allocated to the study of tech giants’ abuse of power around the world; that domestic and international antitrust and competition experts be invited to testify as to tech giants’ anticompetitive behaviors and abuse of market dominance in multiple jurisdictions, with a specific focus on harms to consumers, the news and cultural industries..

The question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Chris Bittle, Michael Coteau, Lisa Hepfner, Anthony Housefather, Peter Julian, Sébastien Lemire, Tim Louis — 7;

NAYS: — 0.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That, given the dominant market position of Meta and Google and each company’s recent actions in Canada which appear to be attempts to intimidate Parliament and which follow a pattern of repeated subversive tactics used by tech giants across the world to prevent accountability, the committee undertake a study on tech giants’ current and ongoing use of intimidation and subversion tactics to evade regulation in Canada and across the world, and that as such, the committee hold a minimum of 5 meetings; and that, as part of this study;

(I) The committee summon Meta executives to testify following their renewed threat to leave the Canadian news market;

(a) That Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman of Meta Platforms Inc., Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs and Chris Saniga, Head of Canada for Meta, be ordered to appear before the committee for no less than two hours at a publicly televised meeting;

(b) That Meta Platforms Inc., and its subsidiaries, be ordered to provide:

(i) All internal and external communications (including but not limited to emails, texts or other forms of messages), save and except direct communications with individual canadians back and forth, related to actions it planned to take or options it considered or is considering in relation to all Canadian regulation since April 5, 2022, including that under Bill C-18, including but not limited to, restricting the sharing of news content on its platforms in Canada.

(ii) Any internal documents, memos or internal communications relating to the impact of the company on the Canadian journalism sector since April 5, 2022.

That this be delivered to the committee no later than 5PM ET on March 31st, 2023.

(II) The Committee notes that in accordance with its motion adopted on February 28th, 2023, on its study of the activities of Google in reaction to Bill C-18, the Committee received a letter on March 17, 2023 whereby Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer at Alphabet Inc. and Richard Gingras, Vice-President of News at Google have agreed to appear before the Committee for no less than two hours at a public televised meeting. The Committee shall incorporate that meeting into this study.

(III) That a minimum of two meetings be allocated to hear from government officials, civil society and experts from other jurisdictions including, but not limited to, the European Union and Australia that have experienced tactics similar to those being used in Canada.

(IV) That one meeting be allocated to the study of tech giants’ abuse of power around the world; that domestic and international antitrust and competition experts be invited to testify as to tech giants’ anticompetitive behaviors and abuse of market dominance in multiple jurisdictions, with a specific focus on harms to consumers, the news and cultural industries.