Whoever is running Canada these days can’t possibly be Justin Trudeau
Government resumes its ad buys with Meta, hanging media out to dry and tacitly conceding Online News Act was a loser
Check out The Hub tomorrow - Feb. 25 - for my Full Press column on the good, bad and ugly in Canadian Journalism. And definitely don’t miss the Full Press podcast with Tara Henley and Harrison Lowman that’ll be posted Thursday Feb. 27. In the meantime, here’s a look at the crumbling Trudeau digital legacy.
One has to wonder who is running Canada these days because it certainly can’t be its prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
He’s a man, after all, who’s been described by foes and friends as dreamy, dynamic, smart, an intellectual lightweight, destructive, economically illiterate, visionary, incompetent and an international embarrassment.
But I’ve never heard him described as modest. He is a proud man who never left the impression he lacked confidence in his decisions and vision for a post-national Canada bereft of either an identity or the determination to create one. He’s definitely not the type to admit his ideas were bad or that they were conceived and executed without consideration of consequences, intended and otherwise. Throughout his tenure, which ends in less than two weeks, problems were typically blamed on either the poor communication skills of his cabinet ministers or the perils of misinformation and disinformation that live, rent-free, in his head.
He also likes to fight. Inspired by lobbyists for Canadian creators and, in particular, Quebec’s antipathy for foreign “web giants,” he took on Big Tech through the Online Streaming Act, the Online News Act, the Online Harms Act and the Digital Services Tax.
The streaming act contributed to the conclusion of the greatest period of prosperity in the history of Canadian film and TV production. And it is unfolding in the lengthy bureaucratic, legally contentious fashion the Liberals said wouldn’t happen and people like me insisted would happen. The harms act died when Trudeau decided it was best to prorogue Parliament and perpetuate Liberal rule, while the digital tax, already unpopular with the Biden administration, will almost certainly be withdrawn as a concession to American President Donald Trump.
The news act extorted $100 million from Google for newspapers, broadcasters and the CBC, but its net impact was negative because it prompted Meta to refuse links to news stories.
Trudeau withdrew all government (but not Liberal Party) advertising from Meta in response and accused it of all sorts of irresponsible behaviour. Last spring, in typically theatrical fashion, he characterized his fight with Meta as a “test moment” for the nation.
And then earlier this month, very quietly, whoever is in charge admitted Canada had failed that test and resumed buying ads on Meta’s platforms. The news was spread via a brief Canadian Press story and without much comment.
Jeff Elgie, CEO of Village Media, a company that operates a growing chain of news platforms serving, mostly, small and medium sized communities, posted on LinkedIn that:
“With potential U.S. tariffs looming, this would be the perfect moment to double down on investing in Canada - on strengthening our own economy and supporting local businesses. Instead? They end the ban to funnel more money to Meta.
“They have somehow decided that they should reward a company that turned its back on Canada, while ignoring the ones that invest in it.”
Anti-Meta litigant Lisa Sygutek, owner of the Crowsnest Pass Herald, penned a National Post column urging the feds to be more like Ontario Premier Doug Ford who, seven months prior to an election, cleverly subsidized provincial media with 25 percent of his government’s advertising budget.
It seems unlikely Trudeau, were he truly in control (and I am being facetious) would have willingly folded to a foe, Meta, he so clearly despises. It seems to me that, were he really in charge, such a decision could have waited until media darling Mark Carney, backed by the people who used to support Trudeau, officially assumes the nation’s helm in a couple of weeks.
It appears more likely that whoever is pulling Trudeau’s strings figured out that not only is advertising with Meta effective, government advertising makes people feel better about their government. Oh, and there is an election coming.
With those being the stakes, there was no downside to further humiliating a hapless Trudeau by conceding his legislation was, like the carbon tax, a bad idea.
That leaves only the streaming act likely to live on. But for that to disappear, there would need to be a group of people different from the current crop - whoever they are - in charge of Canada.
(Peter Menzies is a commentator and consultant on media, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow, a past publisher of the Calgary Herald and a former vice chair of the CRTC)
The observed result is the desired result. The idea that meta not allowing sharing was a flop depends on your lens. This is a control regime.
Problem.
OnLine news act.
Solution Meta won't let users share news.... including problematic for Government news.
Its not for the cbc and global. Its for the news that dared criticize heavily the globalist tropes.
It takes a platform that was used for linking people to none Government controlled news.
Second success. Monitoring required. Monitoring desired
Resign was a lie. It was cover for what you point out. Prorogation is an abomination. Private Members bills don't die March 24 bill c293 picks up
At 2nd reading in senate. It is the permanent emergency act and full totalitarianism. News misses that. Carney signals he wants Emergency powers. That is it my friend. I have podcasts where I go through the act.
I've been bilingual as long as I can remember: Carney's French was the worst of the 4. Baylis's was clearly the best, Gould's was surprisingly good, and Freeland's didn't suck as much as I expected.
Regarding C-11 (I refuse to call it the Online Streaming Act), I predict Poilievre won't repeal it but will instead add a UGC clause, much like the Quebec Liberals promised municipal demergers and once in power added onerous thresholds in demerger referenda.