Media can't wait for 'perfect' solution, says St-Onge as Google demands overhaul
The Canadian media landscape is changing too quickly to wait for a perfect version of the Online News Act, federal Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said Friday, while Google once again threatened to remove news links from its ubiquitous search engine over what the company considers serious flaws.
"We need to put our foot in the door and start doing it," St-Onge said Friday of the Liberal government's new legislation, previously known in Parliament as Bill C-18, that would require tech giants to compensate media for news articles.
"Even though it's not perfect, even though some are not pleased with what we're doing, but this new challenge is coming so fast that we need to address it as quickly as possible," she said while speaking at the MINDS international news agency conference in Toronto.
St-Onge said that part of the challenge is that the government waited too long to regulate digital platforms, so it's starting with this law and expects that both the digital media landscape and regulations will adapt over time.
The act, meant to help a struggling news industry, will force digital giants to negotiate deals with news publishers to compensate them for work that is shared or otherwise repurposed on their platforms.
It doesn't come into force until December, but Meta started removing news for Canadians from its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms this summer in what St-Onge said was an intimidation tactic.
"They've used it elsewhere in the world. They are also sending you, and the entire world a message, that they will resist any type of regulation."
Speaking to the audience of news agencies from more than 20 countries, she encouraged other governments to push back.
"We encourage and stand with other countries who are thinking about taking actions. Don't be intimidated. It's our responsibility to protect press freedoms."
Meta has maintained that the legislation is based on the false premise that Meta and others unfairly benefit from news content, and that the only way it can reasonably comply with the law is to end news availability in Canada.
Google has also argued the legislation, "while well intended ... is built upon a fundamentally flawed premise," as it wrote in its response to draft regulations outlining how the legislation would be implemented.
Google shared its response with media on Friday, saying those draft regulations, which the federal government released Sept. 1, failed to address its concerns.
"We continue to have serious concerns that the core issues ultimately may not be solvable through regulation and that legislative changes may be necessary," Google Canada spokesman Shay Purdy said in a written statement.
Google also welcomed the possibility that changes could come through the Liberals' fall economic statement or the next federal budget.
Google said unless its concerns with the bill are addressed, it will remove news links from its search engine by the end of the year.
The company is taking issue with the formula in the draft regulations that would determine whether a company contributes enough of its total estimated Canadian revenue to media outlets to qualify for an exemption from the law.
Last month, federal officials estimated Google would need to offer about $172 million per year to meet that threshold, while the annual price tag for Facebook would be $62 million.
Google said in its submission that figure is much higher than the $100 million it was expecting based on a previous estimate a senior official with the Heritage Department had given a House of Commons committee last December.
The company also interpreted the draft regulations as having no cap on liability.
"This is well in excess of the economic value Google derives from news-seeking queries, and leaves one company single-handedly responsible for defraying an arbitrary and substantial portion of the costs of Canadian publishers," the company wrote. "Neither the amount nor the structure appears workable."
Google would not disclose how much it currently pays publishers through its agreements with them, but it would likely have to disclose that information if it were to be regulated by the CRTC.
Google has kept a more open dialogue with the government than Meta, and St-Onge said she had heard the company's concern about knowing how much they'll have to pay under the law.
St-Onge said the government won't be stopping at the news act in its efforts to rein in tech, with legislation also coming on artificial intelligence that will focus on making sure AI use respects peoples' privacy, and that content generated by the technology is clearly identified.
The law won't tackle issues around copyright that AI raise, but St-Onge said she has no doubt that there will need to be regulation around that issue ahead.
"It is a first step. But our modern governments are entering a new world, just like we all are, so we have to adapt."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Conservatives call on Elon Musk to step in after Liberals provide loan to Ottawa-based satellite operator
A $2.14-billion federal loan for an Ottawa-based satellite operator has Canadian politicians arguing about whether American billionaire Elon Musk poses a national security risk.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Myths busted and lessons learned: John Vennavally-Rao on his surgery to reverse his ostomy
Twenty-seven year Â鶹ӰÊÓ reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao shares his story of what it was like to have an ostomy bag as part of his health-care battle. 'I’m grateful for what it did to extend my life,' he writes in a personal column for CTVNews.ca.
A northern Ontario man is facing a $12,000 fine after illegally shooting a moose near the Batchawan River.
Unusual flippered feet are making their way into the Saint Lawrence River this weekend. Led by underwater explorer and filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are combing the riverbed near Beauharnois in Montérégie to remove hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.
Kamala Harris accepts CNN debate invitation for Oct. 23, challenging Trump to another showdown
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday accepted an invitation from CNN to debate former President Donald Trump on October 23, challenging her rival to another engagement on a public stage in the final weeks of the campaign.
Kids are inhaling 'Galaxy Gas' to get high. Here’s what parents should know
For some young people, a popular method for getting a quick high is by misusing laughing gas — and lately, that’s in the form of nitrous oxide from products sold by the company Galaxy Gas.
A man is facing numerous drug trafficking charges after Dufferin OPP seized a large assortment of drugs and weapons in Orangeville earlier this week.
A sea lion swam free after a rescue team disentangled it near Vancouver Island earlier this week.
Local Spotlight
Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.