Friday, May 30, 2025

Latest

Bill C-18 Bailout? Canada Ups Tax Claim for News Organizations

In Ottawa’s fall economic statement, the Canadian government has allocated a $129-million boost for news organizations, aimed at alleviating financial strains and staff cutbacks faced by newsrooms nationwide. 

The extension of the Canadian Journalism Labour tax credit allows news groups to retroactively claim costs for employing journalists, increasing the maximum tax credit per journalist per year from $13,750 to $29,750. The cap on eligible salaries has also been raised from $55,000 to $85,000, permitting employers to claim back a higher portion of newsroom labor costs.

This move, effective beginning January 1 of this year and estimated to cost $129 million over five years starting in 2024-2025, is a response to the challenges faced by news outlets, some of which have closed due to the migration of advertising to major tech companies.

Related: Bell Canada Announces 1,300 Job Cuts, Radio Stations And CTV Bureaus Closures

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is also reportedly engaged in discussions with Google about the Online News Act (Bill C-18). The bill aims to inject funds into news organizations by compelling tech giants to pay for their use of journalism, but the feds are finding out that it’s not as simple to go around demanding big tech to pay up. In response, Meta moved to block Canadians’ access to news on Facebook and Instagram. Google announced it was set to follow suit.

Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, calls the allocation a bailout for the “obvious and unmitigated disaster” that has been Bill C-18.

Bill C-18 has resulted in “lost traffic and revenues for Canadian news outlets who did not take the prospect of blocked news links on Facebook and Instagram seriously,” Geist wrote. “If blocked news links extends to Google – a decision will presumably be forthcoming in the next month – the effect will be catastrophic to the Canadian media sector.”

Geist warns that as the bailout further burdens taxpayers, it could also raise “enormous concerns” about the independence of Canadian media — especially if the government succeeds in getting support from the likes of Google.

“While the government claims this is being done to ensure a ‘strong and independent’ press, it is not hard to see how the opposite may be true. Canadian media was already reluctant to hold government to account on Bill C-18 and now it finds that more than 1/3 of its labour costs for journalists are effectively paid by the government.”


Information for this story was found via the Globe and Mail, Michael Geist, and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.

Leave a Reply

Video Articles

How To Profit From $3300 Gold? An Inside Look At A Massive 300,000 Oz Project | Martino De Ciccio

We’re At The Start of a Great Silver Boom | Ross McElroy & Andy Bowering – Apollo Silver Corp

Equinox Gold Q1 Earnings: When Everything Goes Wrong

Recommended

ESGold Begins Concentration Tests Ahead Of First Production

Sterling Metals Hits 0.21% Copper Over 482.8 Metres In First Drilling At Soo Copper project

Related News

Google Tests Blocking News Content for Some Canadian Users in Response to ‘Online News Act’

Alphabet Inc’s (Nasdaq: GOOGL) Google is carrying out tests that block access to news content...

Thursday, February 23, 2023, 10:40:02 AM

Google Takes Stand against Canadian News Bill, Vows to Remove Local News Content from Platforms

Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has announced that it will remove Canadian news content from its platforms...

Thursday, June 29, 2023, 02:36:54 PM

Should Canadian Media Orgs Blame Meta For Following Online News Act And Blocking News Access?

In what could be considered a circus-like finger pointing, a coalition comprised of broadcasters and...

Wednesday, August 9, 2023, 01:31:00 PM

Canada Adds Nuclear Energy to Green Bond Framework

In its 2023 Fall Economic Statement, the government of Canada announced an updated green bond...

Wednesday, November 22, 2023, 11:42:00 AM

Trudeau, Who Wants To Charge Meta & Google For Sharing News, Decries Tech Giants’ “Bullying Tactics”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused technology powerhouses Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:...

Thursday, June 8, 2023, 02:05:00 PM