Make online news laws and federal subsidies a voting issue, Tory MP urges

With merger talks underway between two of Canada’s largest news outlets, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner is urging Canadians to make recent legislation and federal subsidies affecting media outlets across the country a voting issue in the next general election.

“Despite all the subsidies and interventions liberals have introduced since they came to power in 2015, thousands of journalist jobs have been lost as dozens of newsrooms have been closed,” Rempel Garner wrote in a statement. Substack post on June 28, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.

“The current state of journalism in Canada is so dire that there are virtually no regional newsrooms even in major metropolitan centers outside of Toronto, much less the desert of news coverage in Canada’s rural and remote communities. What is there depends mainly on government subsidies to survive.”

Rempel Garner’s post focused primarily on the recent passage of the Liberal government’s Online News Act, which will require tech giants like Google and Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – to pay Canadian media outlets for all their content on their platforms will be linked as soon as the new law takes effect in December.

In response, both Meta and Google have stated that they will block newscast content for Canadian users in order to comply with the new legislation. Meta is already running one test to block news for up to 5 percent of Canadian users.

Meanwhile, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. — owner of such publications as the National Post, Vancouver Sun and Calgary Herald — and Nordstar Capital LP., owner of Metroland Media Group and the Toronto Star, on June 27 that they are in ongoing merger talks. .

‘Make it a problem’

The two major Canadian publishers said that while the proposed deal has yet to be finalized, it is an attempt to respond to the “existential threat” currently facing the media industry.

“The viability of Canada’s newspaper industry is at extreme risk,” Toronto Star publisher Jordan Bitove said in a statement. press release on June 27.

“By pooling resources and working together, we can ensure that more Canadians have access to reliable journalism and quality reporting.”

Rempel Garner said the timing of the possible merger “stinks to heaven” as it comes shortly after Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Ottawa would ensure that Canadian newsrooms receive additional resources, including additional funding and tax credits, to help them survive if Meta and Google continue to block news sharing.

“The biggest loser in this scenario is you, dear reader,” wrote Rempel Garner, adding, “Journalism makes our country stronger. If you care about this issue, don’t forget to make it an issue the next time you visits the ballot box.”

“That is, if there is anyone left to report on a federal election.”

Rodriguez has maintained that the intent of the Online News Act is to help small, local media organizations compete for online readership by forcing tech giants to negotiate news sharing deals with them.

The parliamentary budget officer has said the law would disproportionately favor large, aging media organizations over small ones, even before Google and Meta announced their plans to block news sharing in response to the new legislation.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.