Several broadcast and cultural groups say the United States is pressuring the Canadian government to do away with the Online Streaming Act and the Online News Act.
“We are aware that the U.S. is exerting pressure on the [federal government], and the cultural sector is undoubtedly on high alert,” said Marie-Julie Desrochers, executive director of the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which has supported both pieces of legislation, also said his group has heard about the United States putting pressure on Ottawa. Both Desrochers and Desjardins said they hope the Liberal government will keep the laws in place.
In response to the legislation, Meta stopped allowing Canadian users of its platforms including Facebook and Instagram to post news, saying the cost of compliance with the Online News Act wasn’t worth it for the company.
The Conservatives have been critical of both pieces of legislation, saying the Online Streaming Act’s expansion of government powers to regulate tech platforms amounts to government overreach, while the Online News Act distorts the news market.
The Liberals have said the laws are needed to modernize Canada’s broadcast regulations, and to ensure Canadian media are compensated fairly.
A group of U.S. senators recently encouraged the Trump administration to push Canada to eliminate the Online Streaming Act, which requires large foreign streamers to pay 5 percent of their annual Canadian revenues to funds devoted to producing Canadian content.
The Prime Minister’s Office has not said whether eliminating either piece of legislation is under consideration as part of ongoing trade talks with the United States. Desjardins said that the Liberal government has remained supportive of measures to assist Canadian newsrooms but that it isn’t going to engage in negotiations with the United States “in public and in the media.”
Canada dropped its digital services tax (DST) in June after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would stop trade negotiations if the new tax wasn’t removed. The DST would have required tech giants such as Google and Netflix to pay 3 percent taxes on their revenue for operating in Canada.
Ottawa has been engaged in trade discussions with the United States over tariffs, with Washington implementing 35 percent tariffs on Canadian goods not covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), as well as 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum, 25 percent tariffs on autos and auto parts, 10 percent tariffs on energy, along with increasing tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.
Carney announced on Aug. 22 that Ottawa would remove some retaliatory tariffs it had placed on the United States, including on some goods compliant with the USMCA. Carney said this was done as part of an attempt to develop a “new trade and security relationship” with the United States.
