The government quietly released details on Sunday of how it will allocate the $600 million it promised in June when it announced plans to kill the CRTC’s Online Streaming Act ruling on Internet streamer contributions. The plan largely copies the CRTC’s 2024 base contribution decision, with public tax dollars replacing streamer contributions at a rate far higher than the Commission expected. The windfall is seemingly another by-product of a policy the government is making up as it goes along: cancel the CRTC decision and use back-of-the-napkin math for $600 million, then rely on the same CRTC decision for allocations with the public paying cultural groups far more than the streamers would have been required to contribute. The government plan, booked for a single year ending in March 2027, notably includes $91.5 million for the broadcaster news funds that the streamers have been fighting in court. Five months after the bombshell decision, the government still has not released its promised policy direction to the CRTC, yet it has adopted the Commission’s framework for how it will divide the money.
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The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 282: Udbhav Tiwari on Why Signal May Exit Canada Over Bill C-22’s Encryption and Metadata Retention Rules
A Senate committee has begun hearings into Bill C-22, the government’s lawful access bill that requires a wide range of services to disclose subscriber information, retain metadata for months, and install government-mandated surveillance capabilities. In response, a growing number of companies have said they cannot comply and would exit Canada or withdraw services from the country.
One of the best known companies on that list is Signal, the popular messaging app with billions of users worldwide relying on its app and protocols to ensure secure, private communications. Udbhav Tiwari is Signal’s VP Strategy and Global Affairs. He joins me on the Law Bytes podcast to break down Bill C-22, explain what concerns remain, and discuss next steps if the bill remains unchanged.
From Making Web Giants Pay to Paying Media Giants: Budget 2026 Replaces the Government’s Internet Platform Strategy With $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Dollars for Culture and News
The government’s Budget 2026 made culture a major focus, with headlines trumpeting billions in spending and a potential new personal income tax credit for creators. One aspect that should not get lost is a major reversal in how the government regulates large Internet platforms. For most of the past decade, the government’s approach to Internet platforms rested on a single idea: making web giants pay. That approach underpinned both the Online Streaming Act, which required streamers such as Netflix, Amazon and Disney to fund Canadian content, and the Online News Act, which required Google and Meta to fund Canadian journalism by paying for linking to the news. Budget 2026 confirms that the strategy has been largely abandoned, replaced by taxpayers footing the bill with roughly $1.5 billion in new or renewed support for culture and news in this budget alone, including $600 million in streaming-related funding budgeted for only one year, half a billion in journalism labour tax credits, most notably an extension to broadcasters such as Bell, Rogers, Corus and Quebecor, a permanent doubling of the Local Journalism Initiative, and another two-year renewal for CBC.
Has the Government Read Its Own Bill? What Three Days of House Debate Revealed About Bill C-34 Before the Committee Hearings Begin
Bill C-34, which would ban social media accounts for under-16s, is now before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which just approved plans to hold at least 16 hours of hearings starting the week of November 16th. The government’s position on the bill became clearer during several days of debate last month at the House of Commons, revealing a shift in how MPs describe the ban (it’s now euphemistically called an “exemption model”), how they defend the decision to leave dozens of key issues to future regulations (one implausibly claimed that addressing all the issues would create a 1,500 page bill), and what they think of mandated age verification (some admitted to concerns about it). The takeaway was that the ban and the uncertainty in its implementation will be difficult to defend at committee.
Surveillance By Design: Government Officials Say Lawful Access Could Reach Gaming Platforms, Daycares and AI Services
Lawful access has long been associated with establishing the rules under which telecom and Internet companies may be required to disclose subscriber information, retain metadata, and install government-mandated surveillance capabilities. Yet the start of the Senate hearing on Bill C-22 this week confirmed again that the bill is about far more than telecom and Internet companies, with government officials acknowledging that the Canadian bill uses broader language than any of the comparable countries they examined. What emerges is surveillance by design, with the bill deliberately structured to cover an exceptionally wide range of services, including gaming platforms with chat functions and AI services. Moreover, the new subscriber information production order covers any service provider, as the Senators discussed the possibility of even scoping in daycare centres.
Recent Posts
Back-of-the-Napkin Cultural Policy: The Government’s $600 Million Streaming Plan Copies the CRTC Decision It Killed at More Than Double the Cost 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 282: Udbhav Tiwari on Why Signal May Exit Canada Over Bill C-22’s Encryption and Metadata Retention Rules 
From Making Web Giants Pay to Paying Media Giants: Budget 2026 Replaces the Government’s Internet Platform Strategy With $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Dollars for Culture and News 
Has the Government Read Its Own Bill? What Three Days of House Debate Revealed About Bill C-34 Before the Committee Hearings Begin - Surveillance By Design: Government Officials Say Lawful Access Could Reach Gaming Platforms, Daycares and AI Services
