Private Members Bill supports Ontario community newspapers

You are reading this because you are reading a community newspaper. Chances are that you understand the importance of a community newspaper. For families, particularly in non-urban communities, newspapers play an essential role in delivering hyper-local information that is not available anywhere else, in print or on social media, to local residents.

While most locally-owned businesses had to fight to survive the COVID-19 pandemic and the many challenges that have come in the aftermath of the measures and restrictions that came with it, community newspapers have also been hit hard.

We are fortunate in the Carleton riding to be among the communities that did not lose our community newspapers during the pandemic. The Barrhaven Independent not only covers Barrhaven, but it also covers Riverside South and South Gloucester, which are in the Carleton riding. Its sister publication, the Manotick Messenger, serves the nearby communities of Manotick, Richmond, North Gower, Kars, Osgoode, Greely and surrounding areas. The Ottawa Community Voice has a Stittsville edition to cover that community in addition to their Kanata issue.

Bill 73, Supporting Ontario’s Community, Rural and Agricultural Newspapers Act, 2023.

Before the pandemic, there was an obstacle facing newspapers that was hurting their chance of survival. In 2018, Barrhaven Independent owner Jeffrey Morris brought this to my attention. He and Orleans Star owner Fred Sherwin had a meeting with me to discuss the situation.

Their newspapers, along with the Ottawa Community Voice, are among the many publications that have use the model of printing every second week. This bi-weekly model has helped many of Ontario’s community newspapers remain in business.

Unfortunately, this model works against them in an unfair way. According to the Province of Ontario, the definition of a newspaper includes a clause that the publication must be printed weekly or more frequently. Publishing every second week has resulted in the Community Voice, the Manotick Messenger, the Barrhaven Independent and other bi-weekly and monthly newspapers to fall outside this definition.

As a result, the City of Ottawa is not able to use our local newspapers for much of their important messaging and advertising. The same restrictions are in place for all Ontario community newspapers who have switched to bi-weekly or monthly formats in their dealings with their respective municipalities, as they no longer fall under the definition of what a newspaper is.

Ontario’s Community, Rural and Agricultural Newspapers Act, 2023 is a Private Member’s Bill that, if passed, would change the definition of a newspaper to include bi-weekly and monthly community newspapers. It unanimously passed its second reading on March 28, 2023. I was very proud to speak to this Bill and the importance of community newspapers in the Legislature. It is my first Private Member’s Bill, and it was a bill that originated in the Carleton riding that will help Ontario’s rural communities.

This is not only my first Private Member’s Bill, but it is also a bill that originated locally that will help the communities in my riding. I would also like to thank the hard work and support of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MPP Stephane Sarrazin, who spoke on the positive impacts Bill 73 would have in the communities in rural Eastern Ontario. Our community newspapers not only inform our constituents with hyper local news, profiles and current events, but they also provide a market specific advertising vehicle which helps local businesses advertise to a hyper-local marketplace.

So, whether you live in my riding in Riverside South or South Gloucester, or if you live in Barrhaven, thank you for reading my column in the Barrhaven Independent, something you would not be able to do without community newspapers.

Office Notice:

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