Thank you for having me.
My name is Angus Frame. I'm the president of the Torstar Corporation. I spent the first 12 years of my career as a journalist before moving into digital leadership and product building. I've spent my career at the intersection of journalism and technology, building the platforms that deliver the news to Canadians.
I'm here today to represent Torstar's more than 350 journalists, all of whom are based in Ontario. From the Toronto Star and The Hamilton Spectator to our suite of hyperlocal community brands, including The Smiths Falls Record News, the New Hamburg Independent and many more, our reporters are often the only ones in the courtroom or at city hall. Without them, many Ontario communities would simply have no local reporting at all. The stories we tell—such as Brendan Kennedy's story of prisoner abuse at Maplehurst correctional institute or those on a Peabody-nominated podcast, Left To Their Own Devices, about online harms—are not possible without the talent of dedicated journalists and the resources to support them.
Over 11 million Canadians come to our network of sites, apps and feeds every month. We are deepening our relationship with them and diversifying our business through new digital products, partnerships and events.
We are investing in the next generation. This year, we are hiring 40 new or student journalists. The stability provided by federal programs has given us the predictability needed to make these hires, expand our footprint and invest in local news and high-quality journalism.
However, our resilience is challenged by an increasingly abusive environment. Canadian journalism faces multiple market failures caused by big tech monopolies.
U.S. courts found that Google maintains a monopoly over the ad tech stack. It acts as the buyer, the seller and the exchange, taking a massive cut of every advertising dollar. The court also found that Google had engaged in several unlawful schemes, including manipulating its ad exchange auction and rigging bids so that its own customers would win. This has deprived publishers of billions in ad revenue worldwide. Foreign giants control the entire tech stack. They have inserted themselves as an unavoidable gatekeeper, controlling who can compete in digital markets and who can be seen and heard.
Google has controlled traffic for years and has wielded the power to make or break publishers with changes to its core algorithm, which remains veiled in secrecy. Google's more recent AI Overviews summarize content and present it to users in a way that discourages a click-through. Publishers don't get traffic, attribution or revenue from this practice, which effectively steals our content under the guise of innovation.
We are fighting the theft of our content, but we cannot do it alone. We need the regulatory environment to recognize that journalism is not just another content type but fundamental infrastructure for a functioning democracy. When big tech undermines the business model of local news, it replaces it with AI slop and a fractured ecosystem in which misinformation and disinformation thrive. This makes it increasingly difficult for Canadians to operate from a place of shared knowledge.
We see the Ontario government taking a positive step with its ad set-aside program, prioritizing local media. Ottawa must follow suit. The federal government is weakening our information sovereignty by turning away from Canadian media and platforms while funnelling millions of tax dollars into the coffers of foreign tech monopolists.
I will leave you with a challenging scenario. Imagine that tomorrow, the government faces an emergency and needs to communicate urgently with Canadians. The only way to do so will be through channels owned and controlled by Silicon Valley billionaires and the Trump administration. This is no mere hypothetical. These actors can exercise control over Canadian institutions, our press and our civic life.
I ask each of you to remain vigilant about big tech's power over Canadian policy-making. Many so-called Canadian associations are dominated by U.S. big tech.
As Canadians' elected representatives, I urge you to guard against the false narratives about Canada's best interests. You can do this by asking, does a proposal counter big tech's power over Canada, or does it ignore or even accept that power? If it's the latter, you are not hearing the solution. You are being urged to surrender.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.