I'm increasingly reconciled to the fact that these subsidies are not going away. Let's remember, everybody, that we said in 2019, when we created this program, that it was going to be for five years and then it was going away. A lot of very respected voices in media signed on to that. They said it was vital that this had a sunset clause. Well, we're now on the other side of that sunset clause and we're talking about millions of dollars more going into various types of subsidy programs. We've created new types of subsidy programs over the last five years.
There are two ideas that I want to reiterate. Stop subsidizing head count. Why not switch the subsidy metrics from measuring the advantages that are inherent to incumbent legacy organizations and start allocating subsidies on the basis of audience reach, engagement and subscriber growth? This is far more equitable. It would allow smaller organizations in the start-up phase to benefit from subsidies. Right now they can't. It's a cart-and-horse problem that this subsidy regime, especially the labour tax credit, has created. I think it was created purposely that way by lobbyists for legacy incumbent media.
Finally, let's ensure that the payroll subsidies go to journalism. Right now a lot of these large legacy organizations are private media. Those subsidies are going directly to owners and bondholders. They are not going to journalism.