Bill C-18 received royal assent after a final vote in the Senate on Thursday. The law will compel certain tech companies to pay for news content that they share on their platforms.
Meta announced in a news release following the act’s passage that it will block news for Canadian users in order to comply with the law, and will do so before C-18 comes into effect in six months, though it hasn’t given a date.
They’re working as if there’s no rules.– Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez
In an interview with CBC News Network’s Rosemary Barton Live, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez defended C-18 as necessary to support Canadian journalists and news organizations, and regulate big tech companies.
“We’re just saying to the tech giants, well, you have to consider that this has value and pay for that value — not more, not less [than] what’s fair,” Rodriguez told host Rosemary Barton.
Rodriguez said he hopes Meta negotiates with the government, and said big tech companies should accept more regulation.
“They’re working as if there’s no rules. It’s a bit like the Wild West where these people can come here and do whatever they want,” he said.
“That doesn’t work like that in Canada, not in a democracy, and I cannot accept that a company like Meta comes here and threatens us, and threatens a sovereign country, and if we don’t stand up for Canadians, who will?” he asked.
Concerns not addressed, Google says
Google Canada said in a statement Thursday that none of its concerns about C-18 have been addressed, but that it’s looking to work with the government on the law.
The Online News Act requires both companies to enter into agreements with news publishers to pay them for news content that appears on their sites if it helps the tech giants generate money.
But the legislation has prompted debate in Parliament and beyond about the government’s role in supporting media and regulating tech giants.
A spokesperson for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre directed CBC to a tweet Poilievre posted Friday morning.
“There you have it. Step by step, the Trudeau government is deliberately getting in the way of what people can see and share online,” Poilievre said in the tweet, which included a screenshot from Meta’s news release.
Poilievre said in a tweet sent later Friday that he’d “repeal Trudeau’s censorship laws and bring home free speech” if he becomes prime minister.
There you have it. <br><br>Step by step, the Trudeau government is deliberately getting in the way of what people can see and share online. <a href=”https://t.co/mZP1SQ9lfD”>pic.twitter.com/mZP1SQ9lfD</a>
But Peter Julian, the NDP Canadian Heritage Critic, slammed both Meta’s decision and Poilievre’s opposition to C-18.
“Meta’s announcement to end news access to all users in Canada in retaliation for Bill C-18 is completely unacceptable. The NDP has worked hard to ensure this legislation protects access to reliable news and puts web giants and local media on equal footing,” he said in a statement to media.
“Rather than standing up for local media, Poilievre’s Conservatives would rather defend the interests of super-rich web giants. In the age of fake news, we need more access to reliable media and reporting, not less.”
Both Meta and Google have experimented with blocking news on their platforms for some users in anticipation of the bill becoming law.
The bill has found support among many media outlets, publishers and advocacy organizations who say it will help support an embattled Canadian news industry.
“[The bill’s passage] is an important first step to level the playing field and address the significant market power imbalance between publishers and platforms, and to restore fairness and ensure the sustainability of the Canadian news media ecosystem,” said Jamie Irving, chair of News Media Canada, an advocacy organization for Canadian print and online media.
In an interview with CBC News Network’s Power & Politics, News Media Canada President Paul Deegan said he’s confident Meta, the government and media can work out an agreement.
“These companies make a lot of money in Canada.… Canada is a very attractive market for Facebook, and it’s in their self-interest, it’s in their economic interest, to continue to offer news on their platform,” Deegan told host David Cochranne.
“We are 100 per cent confident that we can come up with something that we can live with, and they can live with.”
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) also welcomed the passage of C-18.
“This much-needed legislation will ensure that our homegrown news businesses, including those of our private broadcasters, have a framework for fair negotiation with online platforms on the value gained from their content,” CAB said in a statement.
“This is a positive step in righting the imbalance that exists between Canadian news businesses and the foreign web giants that benefit financially from using their content,” CAB president Kevin Desjardins said in the statement.
Maria Saras-Voutsinas, executive director of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, said the organization is “ecstatic” that the bill has passed.
“I do think that it’s going to save the industry,” she said, adding she hopes Meta will change its position on the law.
“It would have been great if we could just collaborate instead of playing these types of games, so it’s unfortunate. I’m really disappointed,” Saras-Voutsinas said.
The government said in a news release that revenue for broadcast television, radio, newspapers and magazines fell by nearly $6 billion between 2008 and 2020, and that since 2008, 474 news media outlets have closed across Canada.
Bill has flaws: Expert
Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, and a law professor at the University of Ottawa, said Meta does not get much economic value from news content, and that the news industry needs Facebook more than the other way around.
“I think the government has backed itself into an unfortunate corner with some pretty obvious consequences,” Geist said in an interview Friday with CBC News Network.
Geist said the government could have gone with a different approach to supporting Canadian media, such as creating a fund that’s supported by tax revenues from tech companies like Meta and Google.
Such an approach, he added, would have been less complicated.
“So there were a lot of, I think, real risks and problems with this legislation. There were better alternatives,” Geist said.
“And for whatever reason the government seemed steadfast to say no, this was the approach they were going to take, and just never took the risks associated with their approach particularly seriously.”
Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, said the government could have taken a different approach to supporting news organizations than making tech giants like Meta pay for linking to their content. (Guillaume Lafrenière/CBC)
Geist said Google is more likely to reach an agreement with the government than is Facebook, given the difference between the two platforms when it comes to the value of news content.
Rodriguez said talks with Google have been going well.
“They were very constructive, very positive, so Google has one approach, Meta has the other one,” he said.
“I’m a bit surprised and disappointed with Meta because they keep threatening Canadians, they keep threatening the government, and it doesn’t work that way. I don’t work under threat.”
Jeanette Ageson, publisher of The Tyee, an B.C.-based online news magazine, said in an interview with Power & Politics that while she’s confident the publication will survive, the legislation could threaten some media outlets.
“Small publications disproportionately rely on traffic from platforms like Google and Facebook,” she said.
“We will certainly feel some pain, but [for] some other, smaller news organizations it’s existential I would say.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
