Canadian Heritage Committee on April 19th, 2016

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

But you are on the stock exchange, so it's hard for government to give you what you want. You're at this point for the government and that point for stockholders.

[François Olivier]

It depends on what is important. You could speak with your wallet as an advertiser. It's cool to advertise on all these digital products., but we have to look at whether they are really doing the job for you as an advertiser. If you don't support the industry, then the industry might go. Maybe you don't care, and that's okay, too. That's one way.

The other way is, we are an industry and we are a business willing to invest and fight for survival. I think governments support a lot of other industries—the gaming industry, the forest industry—but the media industry and local communities are unknown, and nobody seems to be aware of our challenges.

That's why I took the time to come here this morning. If it's not important to you all, I'm okay with that, but if you call me when I close the paper in your riding, then I will remember that I came here to tell you so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Olivier.

Now I go to Mr. Samson for three minutes, please.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I've given my questions to my colleague.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Dabrusin.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you.

Most of our discussion for this part has been about advertising and the direction of advertising dollars. You've made some suggestions about government plans. What about tax deductions for advertising, have you looked at that? I'll point out that line 8521 for advertising focuses on deductions for advertising in broadcast newspapers. It doesn't mention anything about digital. That line also refers to Canadian markets and targeting them, and in fact, it says in the commentary that you cannot deduct expenses for advertising directed mainly at a Canadian market when you advertise with a foreign broadcaster.

I'm just curious about what you think might be something about the application of that kind of a deduction for the newspaper industry now that we are moving towards a digital platform.

[François Olivier]

If I understand correctly what you're talking about, you would offer a deduction to our customers if they advertise with us, making their advertising cheaper for them to buy from us. Is what you're talking about?

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Yes, as opposed to going through a foreign digital platform.

[François Olivier]

That could be, but if you were a local advertiser 20 years ago, your job was pretty simple. Many communities had no TV stations, so you were splitting your budget between three things: you put an ad in the Yellow Pages once a year, you were advertising in a weekly paper, and, if you were rich, you were doing a little bit of local radio.

Today, if you run a local business, you need to be present on the web. This is not one thing; this is not one product. It's getting to be very, very complex. A lot of our customers and advertisers are doing like us: trial and error. They're throwing some good money sometimes at bad products to try to find out what works for them on the Internet. That's why anything that would help our customers make the right choice on the Internet or us building the right product on the Internet... Because I am totally convinced that the weekly paper community is not going to be the sole way for local businesses to advertise on the Internet.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

You've been commenting about advertising on Facebook, which is not a Canadian platform, and you're moving to digital platforms yourself, so the idea would be that people spending on advertising on Canadian digital platforms would receive a deduction.

[François Olivier]

That would help us. That would make us more competitive, but that would not stop them advertising on those other platforms, and honestly, sometimes I think they should. I don't think it's a bad thing. What we're talking about is more direct help in a transition period, as opposed to what you are talking about, which is building a competitive advantage.

I mean, any help will help, but I think we're at the point now where we're looking for some direct support, some direct signal that if newspaper publishers are willing to invest in content, are willing to invest in a digital product, they will be supported in some way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Olivier. Thank you, Ms. Dabrusin.

I want to thank the witnesses for appearing here today and for the excellent questions. I think Ms. Dabrusin mentioned that we talked a lot about advertising, and I'm just going to make a comment.

When I go online to read stuff, I literally skim over the advertising. I don't even read it, so I just don't know if people are getting a bang for their buck by advertising on digital platforms. I really don't. I read ads in the newspapers. I really do. I can't help but read them.

I just wanted to comment on that in terms of bang for your buck on advertising.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

May I have a motion to adjourn, Mr. Van Loan?

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

I so move.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.