Thank you.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. It really is a pleasure to join all of you today. I would like to thank my fellow witnesses for their excellent opening remarks.
Our union represents more than 10,000 media workers across the country in broadcast television, radio, newspapers, digital news and film production. I can tell you that they are dedicated and passionate about their work, and they are tough and principled. They care about the important role they play in our democracy in telling stories, in holding the powerful to account and in making sure that we as Canadians have the information we need every day to make the decisions we have to make in our lives. They understand their responsibility.
Our members face a number of very tough realities at the moment. You've heard it here. It's a media sector in crisis, with widespread job loss, the destruction of local news in so many places across Canada, harassment and violence on the job and a concerted effort by some in the political class to erode trust in journalism itself. The sector's integrity is called into question, as they are accused of all kinds of things, including the latest, which is being a tax-funded mouthpiece for the PMO.
I'd like to provide some context on the state of local news in Canada at the moment. In just the last 14 months, the media sector has undergone a brutal list of cuts and closures: Postmedia cut 11% of its editorial staff; BCE cut 1,300 jobs and closed radio stations last year; Nordstar Capital eliminated two-thirds of Metroland's workforce, converting more than 70 weekly papers to digital only; Corus/Global, just this month, cut more jobs; and BCE just last week announced the layoff of 4,800 employees in both telco and media, including 800 Unifor members. On the media side, the cuts included all but one noon-hour newscast in Toronto and weekend newscasts in most major markets across the country, as if the news stops on Friday at 5 p.m.
BCE also killed W5, the longest-running investigative news program in Canada. Apparently, we are told, it will be replaced with reruns of the American comedy The Big Bang Theory.
I don't have time to list all the cuts, because we'd be here all week. It's almost impossible to measure the impact that this is having on local communities, where so-called news deserts are leaving Canadians, especially those living in small towns and rural areas, without access to meaningful, relevant local news.
Canadian telecommunications and media companies have a responsibility that is bigger than to shareholders. They have a responsibility to Canadians, to Canada and to journalism. Fact-based journalism matters, and the truth, as you've heard, has never been more important. Fake news has infested the fabric of our society, sowing distrust in the media, in government and in institutions. In the middle of that chaos, we need the media to tell our stories, to uncover truth and to hold the powerful to account.
We understand that no single piece of legislation, fund or subsidy will be enough to solve this crisis, but there are things we can do. We can renew and expand the local journalism initiative, a program that supports the creation of original civic journalism in under-represented communities across Canada. It's slated to expire in April. There's also the Canadian journalism labour tax credit, which was recently extended and expanded in the fall economic statement, an important move that Unifor called for and supported. Governments, both federal and provincial, can earmark bigger portions of their advertising budgets for local news: local TV, radio and newspapers, and, as you've just heard, Canadian digital media.
Now I'll say a few words on the other crisis: increased harassment and violence. Employers, workers and their unions, including Unifor, journalism schools, governments—