Canada news act 'will inherently damage not only trust in media but media itself'

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reshaping the country’s media landscape as he feuds with Google and Meta over controversial Bill C-18.

Also known as the Online News Act, Bill C-18 was approved by Canada’s House of Commons last year and is currently being deliberated in the Senate. If passed into law this summer, the act would require tech platforms to pay news corporations for linking to their content or using it in a profitable way.

Google, for example, would need to strike a deal with Canada’s CBC News in which Google would pay the media company for linking to CBC’s content in its search results, or for any other repurposing of CBC content that brings Google advertising revenue. Tech platforms will end up paying for 35% of news expenditures for hundreds of media outlets, estimated at a total of $329 million annually, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The Trudeau administration has hawked the bill as “fair” for compensating journalists and local news companies, saying “all we’re asking the tech giants to do is compensate journalists when they use their work.” But Google and Meta have decried the legislation and threatened to cut off access to their services for Canadians. Google complains that as the bill is currently written, it would be forced to enter into agreements with publishers who do not produce original news content.

Trudeau, however, remains defiant.

“The fact that these internet giants would rather cut off Canadians’ access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they’re resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It’s not going to work,” Trudeau said at a news conference Wednesday. “We will continue to make sure that these incredibly profitable corporations contribute to strengthening our democracy, not weakening it.”

But Trudeau’s benevolence comes with a catch. Only those news companies approved by the Trudeau administration to be a Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization (QCJO) will qualify to strike deals with tech giants and benefit from the technocracy’s largesse. News companies are selected to be QCJOs by a handpicked board of five people: Colette Brin, former CBC journalist; Kim Kierans, former CBC journalist; Margo Goodhand, former editor of the Winnipeg Free Press; Pierre-Paul Noreau, former publisher of Le Droit, and Karim Karim, a journalism professor at Carleton College. 

Some independent news organizations who are critical of Trudeau’s regime, like Rebel News, have not been approved by the board.

In addition, some of the larger media companies are also the beneficiaries of hefty handouts from the Trudeau administration, which has doled out $595 million to media corporations like CBC, Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Corus, Postmedia, Torstar, Videotron, and the Globe and Mail. These handouts, which expire March 31, 2024, are in addition to the $1 billion subsidy the CBC has received from the Trudeau administration.

Many of these news publications are heavily funded by the federal government. Employees who spend at least 75% of their time contributing to the production of “original news content” receive about $13,750 from the government, or about 25% of their annual salaries.

These publications are largely partial to the Trudeau regime, which independent media organizations say is a predictable outcome.

“This is like a referee betting on one team but swearing they can call the game cleanly,” says Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Alberta Director Kris Sims.

The playing field is set so that if Bill C-18 goes through, only those news media approved by the Trudeau administration will receive payouts from tech giants, while those which are not approved will likely fade out. And even if the tech companies decide to cut off access to their services, Trudeau will likely continue to subsidize favorable media corporations.

"Everything about this bill is a disaster," said independent newsletter The Line co-founder Jen Gerson. 

"Any kind of government funding to media where you have the entire media market to some degree dependent on legislation or government funding will inherently damage not only trust in media but media itself," continued Gerson. “It is a corrosive, poisonous thing. I am sure there is a business school word for it.”