November 5, 2023
This week The Logic broke the story that the Liberals’ long promised and studied Online Safety Bill has been handed over for Parliamentary sponsorship from Heritage to Justice. The legislation would be the third in the federal government’s Internet trilogy, following the Online Streaming Act Bill C-11 and the Online News Act Bill C-18.
The story suggested that responsibility had been transferred, but not the actual file, citing terse statements from Heritage and Justice communications officials. The take-away may be that the Liberals have bumped the legislation to the back of the Parliamentary queue.
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English-reading Canadians may not be aware that it was a disastrous week for mainstream media in Québec.
The Québecor-owned television network TVA laid off 547 employees, one-third of its staff. Of those, 98 jobs are being cut from its regional stations in Trois Rivières, Lac St.Jean/Saguenay, Rimouski/South Shore and Sherbrooke. Announcements suggest those stations will move to a central casting model with one news broadcasting studio in Québec City servicing the regional bureaus. Also, TVA is eliminating its in-house produced entertainment programming and will acquire independent productions instead. The Montréal studio will be sold and rehoused in Québecor’s Journal de Montréal building. The real estate housing the regional studios may also go on the market. Broadcast Dialogue has a thorough report.
In print journalism, Transcontinental has terminated home delivery of its Publisac product —-flyer packs in plastic bags that piggyback free community newspapers— in response to Montréal’s ban on unsolicited mail and Canada Post’s competing Admail service (which is carrying on despite the municipal ban). News outlets may move to drop boxes.
The double-whammy has gripped political debate in Québec. Premier François Legault has promised unspecified provincial support for media in the Spring budget.
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The dwindling 2023 calendar means deadlines on a couple of big media files, the first being the threat of Google’s throttle of Canadian news in response to Bill C-18.
The other deadline is that Canada’s Digital Services Tax comes into effect at the new year. The DST is the $900 million corporate tax on Big Tech multinationals that are strategically evading nation-by-nation tax liabilities.
MediaPolicy.ca has been following this file off and on: the US has broken its agreement to adopt the comprehensive OECD agreement on minimum corporate taxes owing to implacable opposition from House Republicans. Most countries have agreed to suspend their plans for the national Digital Services taxes pending replacement by an OECD deal. Canada has not (and Britain and France refuse to repeal their own).
The US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen has been dutifully shaking his fist at Canada, promising trade retaliation and a “big fight” in spite of the US failing to ratify the original OECD agreement. Recently, he more temperately conceded that Canada’s tax was “not crazy.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is being temperate as well, quoted by Reuters as saying she is “cautiously optimistic” that a deal can be reached.
According to news reports there have been attempts to re-negotiate the OECD deal —-presumably to give US President Biden another chance to win Republican support—- described by The Logic as “grinding along slowly.” In any event, it’s difficult to image House Republicans agreeing to accommodate Biden on anything over the next twelve months running up to the November 2024 elections, so hold on to your hat.
The Digital Services Tax has been endorsed by the Conservative Party and was a central plank in its cultural platform in the 2021 federal election, “to make web giants pay their fair share.”
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If you are looking for new reading material on media, MediaPolicy just reviewed Hugh Stephens’ “In Defence of Copyright” here, which was unexpectedly fun reading.
Another compelling read is former WarnerMedia and Hulu CEO Jason Kilar’s speculation on what a successful streaming video business model might look like if US studios are to emerge from the disruption of the cable TV model.
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