GATINEAU — The federal government announced Wednesday it is taking action to support Canada’s publishing and news sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As part of the announcement made by the department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) confirmed the Independent Advisory Board on Eligibility for Journalism Tax Measures is now in place. The advisory board’s role is to make recommendations to the CRA on whether a journalism organization meets criteria to receive the Qualified Canadian Journalism Organization (QCJO) designation, which is a prerequisite for organizations to take advantage of new tax measures introduced in the 2019 federal budget.
The board’s members were appointed today and include current and retired faculty members from post-secondary journalism schools across Canada. Members were selected based on the linguistic, cultural and ethnic diversity of the country, says the news release. More information about the board members and the QCJO designation criteria can be found here.
“In unprecedented times, Canadians turn to the web, newspapers as well as conventional television and radio stations to get well-sourced and factual information relevant to their community. The media is an indispensable communications link between different levels of government and the public,” reads the news release.
Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault (pictured, centre at today’s press conference in a photo from his Twitter account) added: “I strongly believe the media plays an essential role in informing Canadians, especially in times of crisis. Media organizations play a key role in sharing important information. We must support them, which is why our government will help to ensure that our publishing and information sectors are supported and that our economy remains strong.”
Canadian Heritage also said it is working to establish a simplified process for submitting and processing 2020-21 funding requests for the Canada Book Fund and Canada Periodical Fund.
During the news conference, Guilbeault also said the federal government intends to spend $30 million on a Covid-19 awareness campaign, with ads to appear in Canadian media outlets.
In response to announcement today, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting issued a statement saying it welcomed government support for Canadian media; however, the measures announced “are too little and may come too late.”
“By some industry estimates, many of our major media outlets are only weeks away from failing. Starved of advertising revenues for years, the final blow delivered by the Covid-19 pandemic will finish many off quickly,” Friends says.
Including the government’s announced intention to buy $30 million in public health ads, Friends estimates the measures announced today will total approximately $200 million to $300 million. However, Friends says today’s announcement from Canadian Heritage does not include broadcasters, who are major providers of local news, and there is no infrastructure yet for delivering the journalism labour tax credit included in the new tax measures.
“To ensure that enough Canadian media outlets survive this crisis, the government must provide an emergency financial infusion of closer to $1 billion. That support must be delivered extremely quickly, and in a way that avoids the ethical problems inherent to government writing cheques to the media,” says Daniel Bernhard, executive director of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, in the statement.
