Mr. Speaker, for years, people have been using the term “media crisis” to describe the challenges our newspapers are facing because of the web giants. In times of crisis, we need urgent action, but the federal government is doing nothing.
Today, all Quebec publishers are demanding that Ottawa correct the serious inequity between web giants and our media when it comes to advertising revenues generated from sharing the work of our content creators on digital platforms. Without the work of journalists, there would be no stories to share on social media. The content is coming from our media, not from Facebook or Google.
If we do not protect content creators, we will lose a pillar of public and democratic life. Ottawa has to take action to ensure that the work of our media benefits our media. Ottawa needs to make web giants pay taxes on the profits they are making here and put that money into a fund to support our media and culture.
Now is the time to act, and quickly.