Cut the apron strings

by Brandon Mayer

“Nothing much happens in small towns”, as they say. Whoever “they” refers to, I’m sure that they don’t mean to suggest that small towns are boring. Small towns are vibrant, welcoming, mutually supportive, economically self-sufficient, and filled with adventure. From a news standpoint, however, small town happenings rarely compare in their juiciness to the scandals, crimes, major events, and political drama that can be found in big cities.

Newspaper editorials, including the one you’re reading, are meant to discuss topical happenings. This week, many of these happenings are happening, well… in all of Canada, rather than exclusively in North Grenville. The separation of Justin Trudeau from his wife, Sophie, is one heavily-discussed current event as of late.

I really dislike Justin Trudeau, but a politician’s family situation should have no greater impact on their ability to do their job than it would on any Canadian’s ability to do their job. I don’t blame media outlets for picking up the story. In fact, it would almost be strange for Canadians NOT to know that their Prime Minister is no longer happily married. However, it doesn’t need to be sensationalized, and it’s certainly not a relevant enough topic for a small town editorial.

The other major “happening” lately is the passing and implementation of Bill C-18, a federal bill known popularly as the “Online News Act”. Despite my dislike of Justin Trudeau, I support Bill C-18, which was simply written as a way to ensure that small news providers – like the Times –get their fair share of online advertising revenue from big companies like Meta (which owns Facebook) when their original content generates such revenue online.

The Online News Act itself is not what’s generating headlines… it’s the fact that Facebook and Google have created algorithms designed to automatically detect and filter out anything that is considered “news content” in Canada, preventing Canadians from seeing it. This