OPINION Anew Metanews world

The federal government still would like us to think Meta and Google are bluffing about cutting news from their platforms.

The federal government still would like us to think Canada can “lead the world” in standing up to the tech titans

The federal government still would like us to think its Bill C-18 will save local journalism.

Stubbornly fixated on these myths, the Trudeau administration found itself outflanked this week as Meta did what it had promised all along, but the government just wouldn’t believe

Hour by hour, for weeks to come, news accounts on Facebook and Instagram will gradually shutter and traffic will disappear Negotiated payments to publishers are on notice to cease. First Meta, then Google will not let Canada set the precedent – “lead the world,” if you will – by taxing each news link they carry and, in legislating so, encouraging other countries to follow suit.

That scheme, that dream, stops here and now.

It’s unclear if Meta’s move is a bargaining stunt or, more likely, part of a larger effort to get out of the news field worldwide for Instagram and its three billion Facebook users.

Google seemingly has more interest in keeping news part of its search engine’s authority but it, too, will not accept the tax.

Try your hand at growing your own food

Ilove this time of year! The weather, the smell of the salt air, the lush scenery of gardens and fields, but I especially love the local food that has and will continue to adorn our grocery store and market shelves

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Why would they? If they capitulate here, there are dozens of countries clamoring for their own C-18s. The tech behemoths want to make a point, first with Canada and by extension the world, that they have little to lose when news goes missing

For the time being, though, the Trudeau government thinks it has framed the issue as Big Bad Tech getting its Justin desserts Won’t happen. This isn’t the fix on the runaway powers of the platforms.

Canada is speaking loudly and carrying a small stick

Kirk LaPointe is publisher and executive editor of BIV and vice-president, editorial,

of Glacier Media

I probably ate 10 bags of B.C. cherries over a couple of weeks. The prices for these delicacies ranged from $9.99 a pound early in the season and finished off at around $4.99 a pound.

If you are addicted to cherries like I am, this can be an expensive indulgence.

Recently, the local raspberry and blackberry crops have been given prime shelf space during harvest. I have noticed that prices seem super high this season. When I see a pint of blackberries on sale for $6.99 I ask myself if I should spend that money elsewhere. It seems to me that this is roughly $2 more than I paid last year Inflation