Bill C-18, the Online News Act, represents a massive win for News Media Canada, the lobbying arm for news organizations such as Postmedia and Torstar. After obtaining hundreds of millions in taxpayer support with programs such as the Local Journalism Initiative (made permanent in Budget 2022), the Journalism Labour Tax Credit, and the Digital Subscription Tax Credit, the organization set its sights on the Internet platforms. In fact, not content with obtaining payments for reproduction of news content, it lobbied for a far broader approach that even includes payment for links or merely “facilitating access” to news content. The bill has already led to spiked op-eds critical of the government in the papers represented by News Media Canada, with critical commentary an outlier.
So what convinced the government to introduce a bill that adopts such an extreme approach? A look at the registered lobbyist meetings just since the election last September provides a hint. There have been 52 registered meetings with Ministers, MPs, and senior officials or roughly one meeting every four days since election day nearly 8 months ago. This represents an astonishing level of access and may help explain why the concerns of independent media and the broader public are missing from the bill.
Number |
Communication Date |
Designated Public Office Holders |
1 |
2022-04-14 |
Lisa Hepfner, Member of |
2 |
2022-04-13 |
Michael Penney, Executive |
3 |
2022-04-11 |
Harold Boies, Director, Ramzi Saad, Director Drew Olsen, Associate |
4 |
2022-04-06 |
Brian MacKay, Policy Ron Ahluwalia, Director of |
5 |
2022-03-30 |
Elliott Lockington, Chief of |
6 |
2022-03-28 |
Brian MacKay, Policy Ron Ahluwalia, Director of |
7 |
2022-03-24 |
Harold Boies, Director, |
8 |
2022-03-22 |
Tim Louis, Member of |
9 |
2022-03-16 |
Harold Boies, Director, Ashish Sharma, Senior |
10 |
2022-03-14 |
Brian MacKay, Policy |
11 |
2022-03-11 |
Harold Boies, Director, |
12 |
2022-03-04 |
Brian MacKay, Senior Policy |
13 |
2022-03-03 |
Keith Mitchell, Legislative |
14 |
2022-03-01 |
Benedicta Arthur, Issues |
15 |
2022-02-24 |
Simon Kennedy, Deputy |
16 |
2022-02-23 |
Peter Julian, Member of |
17 |
2022-02-17 |
Tony Loffreda, Senator, |
19 |
2022-02-16 |
Brian MacKay, Policy |
20 |
2022-02-10 |
Brian MacKay, Policy |
21 |
2022-02-10 |
Lorna Bonvie, Director, |
22 |
2022-02-09 |
Lyle Skinner, Director of |
23 |
2022-02-04 |
Peter Opdam, Policy |
24 |
2022-02-02 |
Brian |
25 |
2022-02-02 |
Isabelle Mondou, Deputy |
26 |
2022-01-28 |
Lisa Jorgensen, Director of |
27 |
2022-01-26 |
James Maloney, Member of |
28 |
2022-01-25 |
Leslyn Lewis, Member of |
29 |
2022-01-24 |
James Maloney, Member of |
30 |
2022-01-20 |
Pablo Rodriguez, Minister |
31 |
2022-01-19 |
John Matheson, Chief of |
32 |
2022-01-18 |
John Matheson, Chief of |
33 |
2022-01-18 |
Martin Champoux, Member of |
34 |
2022-01-14 |
Adam Chambers, Member of |
35 |
2022-01-13 |
Lionel Adimi, Policy |
36 |
2022-01-13 |
Erin O’Toole, Leader of the |
37 |
2022-01-12 |
John McKay, Member of |
39 |
2022-01-12 |
Anne McGrath, National |
40 |
2022-01-10 |
Anthony Housefather, Member of |
41 |
2021-12-15 |
John Nater, Member of |
42 |
2021-12-15 |
Brian |
43 |
2021-11-18 |
Lorna Bonvie, Director, |
44 |
2021-11-18 |
Isabelle Mondou, Deputy |
45 |
2021-11-18 |
Tyler Meredith, Director of |
46 |
2021-11-18 |
Ken |
47 |
2021-11-16 |
John Matheson, Chief of |
48 |
2021-11-05 |
Francis Drouin, Member of |
49 |
2021-11-01 |
Greg Fergus, Member of |
50 |
2021-10-13 |
Mona Fortier, Minister of |
51 |
2021-10-12 |
Tyler Meredith, Policy |
52 |
2021-09-28 |
Rebecca Caldwell, Director of |
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