QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Canadian Heritage
Community Media
September 25, 2025
Thank you for being here this afternoon.
I had the privilege of serving as the Mayor of Moncton for nine years. I can tell you that our city embodies many of the qualities that define Canada: bilingualism, cultural diversity, resilience and a deep sense of community.
We know that local journalism is the bedrock of a healthy democracy and an essential part of Canadian cultural identity, yet across this country and particularly in mid-size cities like Moncton, we are seeing the sharp decline of local journalism and community media, which are essential for reflecting and preserving our identity. This erosion of local media means fewer trusted sources for communities to learn about themselves, their institutions and their neighbours, and it leaves a gap that national outlets or social media cannot fill.
Given the urgency of this issue, what is your department’s strategy for ensuring the long-term sustainability of local and community news?
Thank you for the question.
You may be aware that we have an initiative for local journalism; the department put that forward approximately five or six years ago. I believe we introduced that during my first time around when I was the heritage minister. We have a number of different measures that we have put forward. The agreement with Google that will provide $100 million for media across the country is another example of our government working. There are a handful of governments in the world that have put in place legislation to force web giants to invest in news while they benefit greatly from it.
Perhaps the third thing I could say is this: During the last election campaign, we made a commitment to invest at least $150 million in CBC/Radio-Canada in the first year of our mandate and bring the funding for the public broadcaster to somewhere on par with the average in the G7. Right now, we are second-last, just in front of the United States, in terms of dollars invested per person.
One of the requirements of those increased investments in the public broadcaster is that they must invest more in local news across the country.
Thank you for that. Unfortunately, we’re just not seeing it on the ground. Younger Canadians in New Brunswick — in fact, all over — increasingly get their news and culture almost exclusively online, yet much of that content comes from global platforms.
How is your department ensuring that regional voices, including Acadian and francophone perspectives, remain visible and accessible in the digital space rather than drowned out by outside content?
Senator, I apologize, but I have the answer in French here.
You say that you don’t see them. There’s a tax credit for journalism labour to better serve communities and the Canada Periodical Fund. I was talking about the initiative for local journalism. Of course, efforts are under way with the Canadian Heritage team and the Prime Minister to see if anything else can be done. The pressure on our local media is not a uniquely Canadian phenomenon. The same thing is happening around the world. More and more people are turning to the platforms to get their news, and on large language models alone —
