The federal government says it intends to “eliminate” the requirement for online streaming services to contribute a portion of their revenues to fund Canadian content, replacing that funding with taxpayer money.
The disclosure was made in a letter to the Federal Court of Appeal this month as part of ongoing litigation over the Online Streaming Act.
“We are instructed to inform the court that the government’s intention is to eliminate the base contribution requirement on streaming services and to provide government funding to replace those contributions,” the attorney general’s office said in the document dated July 17.
It comes after Ottawa last month directed the CRTC to review and “adjust” its recent decision to triple streamers’ base contribution rate to 15 per cent under the act.
That June announcement said the government would provide $600 million to the Canadian media sector, but made no mention of eliminating the CRTC’s base contribution rule entirely.
The July 17 letter to the court says the government intends to publish its updated policy directive to the CRTC for consultation “in the coming weeks.”
The court filing was first reported on Tuesday evening by the Wire Report. Global News has since obtained a copy of the document.
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Global News has reached out to Culture Minister Marc Miller’s office for comment.
The Canadian Broadcasting Association told Global News it has not yet seen a substantive policy direction from the government and suggested it has heard a different message.
“The language in the letter does not align with what we have heard from the government, and we believe it would be premature to reach any definitive conclusions from this administrative communication between the court and one of the respondents,” CBA president Kevin Desjardins said in a statement.
In 2024, the CRTC made an initial order under the Online Streaming Act requiring large streaming companies like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video to pay five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to funds devoted to producing Canadian content, including local TV news.
Those streamers challenged the order, and the Federal Court of Appeal put a pause on the payments while it considers the case.
The Trump administration has raised the Online Streaming Act as a trade irritant in negotiations between Canada and the U.S., claiming American streaming companies are unfairly targeted.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet on Wednesday criticized the government’s stated intention to “eliminate” the base funding requirement, arguing it will allow foreign streamers to operate in Canada “without contributing in any way to the development of our culture” — specifically French-language content.
“Once again, Mark Carney’s Liberals are bowing to Donald Trump and sacrificing the cultural sector, the very future of our French-language cinema and television,” he said in a French statement. “Another act of weakness.
“The government must reverse course and stand up for culture and its dissemination in French in Quebec.”
Carney denied the policy change was a concession to the U.S. when asked by reporters Wednesday at an event in Alberta.
“Not at all,” he said in French.
He added the move to halt the CRTC policy was focused on affordability and meant to ensure streamers didn’t raise their prices for Canadian users.
Carney said there will be a CRTC meeting with government officials to discuss the issue “in the coming weeks.”
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