Canadian Heritage Committee on May 5th, 2026

[Francis Bilodeau]

I'll see if Blair has more specifics on that.

[Blair McMurren, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage]

The Canadian Journalism Collective is the entity that's administering the Google fund. It has done its reporting. It has just disbursed the second year of the funding and there's very rich data around where that's going.

It's governed by a collective steering committee that tries to balance that out. It's an ongoing calibration to ensure that the smaller, local outlets benefit.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Can the department point to one single local outlet that has been able to prevent itself from going under because of this funding?

[Francis Bilodeau]

I don't think we'll be able to draw the line of who's been prevented from going under but, as Blair said, there's significant information on the recipients.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Does the department have numbers on how many small and independent media outlets there are in Canada, versus how many there were when Bill C-18 received royal assent?

[Francis Bilodeau]

We do.

Do you know them offhand, Blair?

[Blair McMurren]

It's a good question. This is data I know this committee has been interested in having, through the previous study and the one that's being wrapped up.

We have completed phase one of the local news directory project, which we believe will help us get at this information. We're proceeding to phase two. We'd be happy to provide some information about that.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

I would appreciate that. Thank you.

Generally speaking, are there fewer or more small and independent media outlets now than there were when Bill C-18 received royal assent?

[Francis Bilodeau]

We're aware that the numbers declined due to issues around revenues and particularly around ads, as you will know. My understanding is that, to date, there are 459 recipients of the funds provided by Google. Whether or not those funds provided by the government have prevented them from going under is not something we would be able to assess.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Okay.

Reading from the summary of the bill, it's “to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contribute to its sustainability.” It has failed.

[Francis Bilodeau]

The sentence you've read says, “contribute to its sustainability”, so that's something we're assessing. Certainly, there have been a number of recipients, so to that extent, it is providing supports to a number of organizations. As I mentioned, I believe the number of organizations that will have received funds is around 459.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

There are fewer independent and small media companies now than there were when this bill came into effect, though.

[Francis Bilodeau]

There are dynamics, as we've discussed, around their funding profiles and their funding sources—

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Mr. Bilodeau, you don't need to protect the government's policy. I'm not holding you to it.

[Francis Bilodeau]

I'm saying I agree that there are fewer. What I'm unable to answer directly is what the impact would have been absent the measures taken by the government.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

When we look at the effect of Bill C-18 and, specifically, the responsive measures taken by Meta, which mean that no news can be shared on Facebook or Instagram, there are greater tools available to your Torstars, your Postmedias and your CBCs to reach audiences than there are to the individual local radio station in St. Thomas or to others.

What is the department doing to ensure that these independent outlets have access to online audiences now, given that the Liberal government policy has blocked them off?

[Francis Bilodeau]

Blair, do you have anything to add on this one?

[Blair McMurren]

We have a whole suite of program supports for these kinds of outlets. Some of them involve business development to look at how they can react to the situation they find themselves in, vis-à-vis—

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

The situation they found themselves in because of government legislation.

[Blair McMurren]

One of those programs is called the collective initiatives component of the Canada periodical fund. It will help them change their business operations to find new audiences online, for example.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

It strikes me that the CBC doesn't need 7% of this budget. It could be better suited going to independent outlets.

[Francis Bilodeau]

The measures in the bill have been brought forward in a way so that the CBC is eligible. It's being paid the funds as per the measures that were passed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you.

Ms. Royer, you now have the floor for five minutes. Go ahead.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Welcome to our committee today.

I thought I would begin by enticing you, Deputy Minister and your department, and hopefully Minister Miller, to take a little tour of my riding of Port Moody—Coquitlam, including Anmore and Belcarra, on the beautiful west coast of B.C. I'll begin by painting a picture of some of the organizations that contribute greatly to my neck of the woods.

We have organizations such as the Port Moody Arts Centre, the Place des Arts and the station museum. We have active sports clubs, like the Coquitlam Express Junior A Hockey Club and the Port Moody Soccer Club. We have community media, like Tri-Cities Community TV and Freshet News. With a 46% immigration population, we have very active independent ethnic community TV producers, such as Parvaz media and KTV. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the Festival du Bois, the much-loved festival put on by the Société francophone de Maillardville every year. These, and so many others, are bringing people together.

It's all happening on the unceded territory of eight nations. These are the Kwikwetlem, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, Squamish, Katzie, Kwantlen, Qayqayt and Stó꞉lō peoples.

All of this culminates in an incredible project that horseshoes around the Burrard Inlet called the presence of ancestors. It's a collaboration of five house posts created by a Coast Salish artist, Tasha Faye Evans, other indigenous artists and the Port Moody Ecological Society. It really showcases my riding. It's an incredible place to visit any time of the year.

With the new budget, how might these groups see themselves reflected?

[Francis Bilodeau]

As I think you know, the department manages a grants and contributions envelope that is close to $2 billion. There have been new investments in arts, culture and sports, both through budget 2025 and through the spring economic statement. More recently, there have been very significant investments in sports.

In the context of the recent budget, we've seen new investments in the Canada arts presentation fund and building communities through arts and heritage, and ongoing investments through the Canada music fund, the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada.

We support an ecosystem of programs, both in direct funding and through portfolio organizations, that are intended to provide direct support for organizations—in many cases, smaller, community-based organizations—so that they can grow the talent, the arts and the culture that are so important to Canada.

My colleague, Joëlle, is responsible for the cultural sector, so I'll see if she would like to add anything specific.