A core piece of Ottawa’s approach to cultural policy is the Online Streaming Act, or Bill C-11, which among other things requires broadcasters and streaming platforms to showcase Canadian stories and music, contribute to their production and support a broadcasting system that reflects Canada’s diversity.
To promote Canadian content, Ottawa has been hell-bent on applying outdated regulations to innovative platforms like Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. These platforms are successful because they provide consumers with what they want — an approach quite different from the federal government’s traditional paternalism in requiring companies to produce or subsidize Canadian content, whether there is consumer demand for it or not.
Now that paternalism is being ratcheted up dramatically. The CRTC wants large online streaming services to contribute fully 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content, three times the requirement it set in 2024. Tripling spending obligations would make for one of the most aggressive streaming frameworks in the world. And the extra costs will ultimately be passed on to Canadians.
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