OTTAWA – Canada has no plans to levy a new tax on Internet service providers, despite a recommendation from a House of Commons Heritage Committee report suggesting that such a tax could help to fund Canadian journalism.
Heritage Minister Joly and the Prime Minister made that clear after Thursday’s release of Disruption: Change and Churning in Canada's Media Landscape. The report is the result of year-long study on access to local and regional media and the impact of media consolidation and digitalization.
It offers 20 recommendations, including the creation of “a new government funding model that is platform agnostic and would support Canadian journalistic content.”
Other suggestions included tax incentives to allow the deduction of digital advertising on Canadian-owned platforms and to assist the transition from traditional to digital platforms, and that CBC/Radio-Canada eliminate advertising from its digital news platforms.
