Canada's News Bargaining Code: An Unabridged Account of C-18

Résumé analytique

Journalism is in crisis in Canada and around the world: platform giants take the lion's share of advertising dollars, and journalism has suffered historic layoffs and closures despite the government's $595 million package for journalism in 2019. Australia's 2021 News Media Bargaining Code offered a model, and Canada followed, tabling its own bill in 2022; in June 2023, after nearly two years of debate and lobbying, Bill C-18 (the Online News Act) became law. This report is the first full, unabridged account of C-18, drawing on media accounts, expert testimony, and interviews with journalists, government officials, and global policy experts to trace the bill's legislative journey, the lobbying and media discourse around it, its similarities and differences with Australia's code, its aftermath, and future directions for news bargaining in Canada and abroad.

Google and Meta took contrasting approaches: Google lobbied heavily and pushed for amendments (opposing the undue preference provision, the broadened scope of covered publishers, and uncapped liability, while seeking to negotiate collectively), whereas Meta refused to negotiate and ultimately exited news entirely on its platform, both companies having first tested or threatened news bans. Canada acquiesced to a liability cap and allowed collective bargaining with Google, but kept undue preference in the final bill with amendments, and built in more transparency than Australia's model, including mandated independent annual audits by the CRTC. Meta's exit devastated many small and language-minority publishers, while legacy publishers, though welcoming the Google deal, mourned lost exclusive content arrangements; the final regulations effectively converted the law from a bargaining model into a regulated fund model, raising doubts about whether a robust bargaining code can survive pressure from Big Tech.

Looking ahead, the report argues future legislation must reckon with generative AI as the next battleground for compensation, recommends taking an offensive stance early to counter Big Tech narratives (such as "link tax" claims), suggests must-carry provisions as a way to prevent a Meta-style exit, and frames bargaining codes as only one part of a broader policy response that should also include tackling monopolistic ad-tech practices and investing in public media, particularly for local news facing growing news deserts.