News Media Canada proposes amendments to Bill C-18

News Media Canada has submitted amendments to Bill C-18, the Online News Act.

These amendments come after considerable engagement with our 565 member titles. News Media Canada agrees that while the Australian legislation is an excellent template, a few changes are necessary to apply it to the Canadian context.

These include: 

  1. Ensuring the owner-operator journalists count toward the two-journalist eligibility
    minimum. These titles often operate in news deserts or areas of news poverty and tend
    to be in rural and remote communities across Canada.
  2. Making certain than news publishers that do not have the QCJO designation follow
    journalistic practices and principles.
  3. Providing specific timelines for negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.

The full text of our amendments are available for review here.