Fri Sep 8, 2023 – 4:46 pm EDT
(LifeSiteNews) — The Trudeau government’s Online News Act could see the taxpayer-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) receive more than $150 million as a result of mandated deals signed with Big Tech.
According to a recent analysis by Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) vice-chair Peter Menzies, the mandated payouts to news media under the Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18, could see the CBC – which already receives over a billion dollars from taxpayers annually – receive $172 million in compelled payments from social media companies like Meta and Google.
“I’m a big fan of having a public broadcaster, but not a large commercial competitor eating everybody else’s lunch,” Menzies told the Globe and Mail.
Menzies estimated that the CBC will receive the most funding under the new act since it has the largest number of employees. According to its 2020-2021 annual report, the CBC receives about $1.24 billion in public funding every year, which is roughly 70 percent of its operating budget.
Canada’s Senate passed the Online News Act, or Bill C-18, in June and it quickly became law. The new law, when fully implemented, will force social media companies to
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at LifeSite News
The views expressed in this news alert by the author do not directly represent that of The Official Street Preachers or its editors