Time to Keep Federal Advertising Dollars in Canada

The Canadian government has supported journalism for generations. Since the founding of Canada’s first newspaper, the Halifax Gazette, which dates to 1752, government advertising has been an important source of revenue for newspapers. Even prior to Confederation, direct supports, like the former Publications Assistance Program, which subsidized the postal delivery of non-daily newspapers, ensured that Canadians have access to high-quality Canadian news.

Twenty years ago, the federal government spent $110 million on advertising, which was managed by 30 advertising agencies. Print newspapers and magazines accounted for about one-third of federal advertising spending, while internet advertising accounted for less than 1 per cent of the spend.

Last year, the Government of Canada spent a total of $140 million on advertising, involving one Agency of Record for media planning and placement. While the one Agency of Record model is efficient, we are concerned with where scarce ad dollars are being spent.

Last year, just $6 million

KANNON:

Handouts abound

→ FROM 9 keep on wasting it to benefit only themselves and a few well-heeled friends. or five per cent of federal advertising dollars went toward print publications. That is a far cry from the roughly one-third of twenty years ago. For comparison, government spending on Facebook/ Instagram ads alone accounted for almost double what is spent on all print advertising combined. And the spending on Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok combined was greater than all print expenditures.

For now, the Trudeau government is selling the $13-billion “investment” to beat the band. Some people in St. Thomas will eventually be happy. By the time everybody else finds out if they’ve been sold a bill of goods, there will have been many more handouts, handshakes and smiles for the camera.

Today, digital advertising accounts for more than 50 per cent of all federal ad spending. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is suing Google, the company “pockets on average more than 30 per cent of the advertising dollars that flow through its digital advertising technology products.”

Social media companies operating in Canada do not employ journalists and they are shielded from liability by Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code. They enjoy all the benefits of being a publisher without any of the obligations.

Digital search and social giants have contributed greatly to connecting people, businesses, and communities. Yet, there have been unintended consequences. While they provide the essential plumbing of our digital age, they have not figured out a way to separate the clean drinking water (e.g., fact-based news and information) from the sewage (e.g., fake news).

Trusted news sources provide an important filter that helps Canadians make informed choices. Real journalism, which is based on editorial judgment and rigorous fact-checking, costs real money, which comes from advertising and/or subscription revenue. Canadian news publishers employ real journalists, who adhere to strict editorial standards, and publishers can be held liable for their content. Yet, federal advertising dollars that once helped fund our newsrooms have shifted largely to Big Tech companies that benefit from our content.

The federal government has recognized that the business of journalism is in trouble. It has taken steps to fill news deserts and areas of news poverty through the Local Journalism Initiative. It has also introduced Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which will allow publishers to come together to negoti- ate fair content licensing agreements with web giants and level the digital playing field.

One of the most powerful tools in any government’s policy toolkit is procurement. Procurement can help governments advance socio economic policy objectives, including job creation, and deliver better outcomes. Indeed, the federal government’s Policy on Social Procurement facilitates and supports the inclusion of socio-economic measures in procurement to support the goal of achieving best value for the Crown and, in turn, for Canadians.

Isn’t it time for the federal government to align its advertising spending with its public policy goal of supporting accountable and trusted sources of information? Isn’t it time to support the home team and keep advertising dollars, which support factbased, fact-checked civic journalism, in Canada? The consequences of inaction are more misinformation and disinformation, a less informed and engaged citizenry, less robust public discourse, and a loss of community.

DYER: Gradually making our way out into space

→ big payloads to most parts of the solar system. It is the game-changer: once this technology is fully operational, we are out for good. And what Elon Musk is doing now could have been done 40 years ago.

There’s no ground-breaking technology in Starship that wasn’t there or almost there by 1983, except some aspects of computing power. People just got distracted by wars and

MOVERS: Funding the transition

→ FROM 4

The fundraiser is a 19+ country western dance from 7-11:30 p..m. on May 6 at Pine Valley Chalet, 1600 River Rd. E. in Kitchener. It will include line dancing lessons, appetizers and refreshments, a photo station, and a silent auction with a wide range of items up for bid. Tickets bought before May 1 are $49.95 and after that will cost $54.95. Beyond financial support Shelter Movers is always looking for more volunteers, Waterfall said. other crises in the 1970s, and the whole enterprise of space got shunted onto a siding. That could happen again.

“We have a number of volunteer positions, both frontline movers and drivers that are actually out on the move helping you, and our administrative volunteers that are doing the behind-the-scenes work of raising money and marketing and communications, volunteer services and coordinating the moves,” she explained.

The enthusiasm is back now, but even in this era Musk is the only person with the drive, the imagination and the resources to build something like Starship. Neither the man nor the era will last forever, and it could all slip away again if the foundations of a spacebased economy (which requires Starship) have not been laid by the time one or the other is gone. Musk suffers from random enthusiasms (like Twitter) that leave him exposed to financial disaster. Some foolish war could draw in the great powers and turn everybody’s attention elsewhere. Some sudden lurch in the climate could leave us all struggling. But if none of those things go wrong, we will be a genuinely space-faring species in ten years. Fifteen, at the outside.