Thursday July 30, 2026 | OTTAWA, ON
Political analysis | by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The Carney government intends to cancel the fees that U.S. digital streaming companies pay to support Canadian media.
The idea is to replace it with public Canadian content funding (i.e. a federal government expenditure).
Maybe that’s as it should be (rather than expecting foreign companies to pay for our own cultural protections and development). That takes away any leverage that the US companies might have in future over
Last month the federal government told the CRTC to revise its 15% fee on large streaming services. This seems to be what they’ve come up with.
The Conservatives have been calling for a cancellation of what Poilievere called ‘the Netflix tax’, for months. Carney apparently made his decision to cancel the tax about two months ago, as reported by the CBC.
Impacts:
Not only does it let tech giants like Google, Netflix and Meta off the hook as to making any financial contribution to the Canadian economy, it is another example of where Carney appears to be timid about ruffling any Trump feathers.
We’ve said it before — it’s possible that Carney knows more than he’s letting on, to the point that appeasing the President Trump administration is deemed wise in the short term.
Carney has said from the beginning of his time as prime minister that ‘a good deal is better than no deal’. And perhaps Carney is sticking hard to the trade diversification mission to the point that any interconnections are better loose (or gone) than providing a means of a trap.
Imagine yourself up against a bully that you know you can’t beat in any conventional way. So you put up as much of a fight as you can while also scurrying and working hard to diversify your sources of protection (in this case, new reliable economic trading partners). It’s a long-term game with daily urgent actions required to get there.
Comment from the NDP:
Cancelling the Online Streaming Act is “nothing more than an act of appeasement to placate Donald Trump and his tech billionaire supporters and it threatens the future of Canadian media and content,” said the NDP in a statement yesterday.
“This is a deeply troubling decision that raises serious questions about whose interests this government is prepared to defend,” said NDP Heritage Critic Heather McPherson.
“U.S. technology and streaming giants earn billions of dollars from Canadian consumers. The Online Streaming Act was designed to ensure that these companies, like Canadian media companies, contribute to the creation of Canadian content and support the Canadian workers who produce it. It was about fairness, a level playing field, and protecting Canada’s cultural sovereignty,” says McPherson.
McPherson also points out that “the US tech and media companies that directly compete with Canadian media”.
“We need a government prepared to stand up for Canada, not one that backs down when it is politically convenient,” the NDP heritage critic said.
Comments from the Bloc:
“It is catastrophic news. It’s not a good thing that $600 million comes from the pockets of all the citizens and taxpayers here in Canada and Quebec,” said Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, MP (Lac-Saint-Jean) in a press conference today in Chicoutimi where a federal by-election will be held on August 31.
“The money is in the pocket of the big international companies,” said Brunelle-Duceppe.
“Mark Carney did a mistake again, because he is afraid of Donald Trump and he doesn’t get anything in return,” said Brunelle-Duceppe. “So it’s a very bad thing, today,” he told media.