Government, two opposition parties to unite in support of the Online News Act

In a sign that negotiations with tech giants Google and Meta over the government’s new online news law may be deadlocked, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois are expected to present a united front in support of the legislation at a news conference today .

“Canada is standing up to the tech giants for the right reasons,” Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said in a media statement. “A free and independent press is fundamental to our democracy.”

His office did not say whether the government has anything new to say at the press conference.

“We’re going to stand our ground. After all, if the government can’t stand up for Canadians against tech giants, who can?” Rodriguez’s statement said.

“We’re not going to back down, we’re not going to change our position,” said an NDP source. CBC News does not identify the source as they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.

The source called Google’s announcement last week that it would remove Canadian news content from its search, news and discovery products an act of “harassment”.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has also said it will stop Canadian users from posting links to Canadian news outlets on Facebook or Instagram pages.

Neither company has yet lived up to those threats, even though the Online News Act, also known as C-18, received royal assent after being passed by both the House of Commons and the Senate.

The law forces companies like Google and Meta to pay money to a news organization every time a user opens a web story through a link on one of their products.

The bill was drafted as a way to keep news outlets solvent after advertising massively moved to digital platforms, virtually wiping out a key revenue stream for journalism.

As a news organization, the CBC could see a financial benefit under C-18, which requires the CBC to report annually on any compensation for news it receives from digital operators.

“Laws that have been passed democratically must be respected,” Martin Champoux, heritage critic for the Bloc Québécois, said in a media statement.

Champoux is expected to appear alongside the NDP’s Rodriguez and Peter Julian on Wednesday. He said the press conference is “an opportunity to show how serious we are about protecting news media and making sure there is a fairer way to share advertising revenue.”

The Conservative Party has not commented on this story. It voted against C-18 and party leader Pierre Poilièvre vowed in a tweet to “withdraw [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau’s censorship laws.”

Google and Meta have not commented on this story either. In the past, both companies called the legislation unworkable.

Google has likened the visibility it provides through its search engine to a free newsstand service for media outlets. Meta has said it sees no room for negotiations with the government given the way the law was made.

Last week, Rodriguez told CBC News he expected to speak with Google this week and suggested that regulations in support of the new law could address some of the company’s concerns. His office did not say whether such talks have already taken place.

Google has said it looks forward to participating in the regulatory process.

CBC News will livestream today’s press conference at noon ET.