Quebecor welcomes the tabling of the bill entitled An Act respecting online communications platforms that make news content available to persons in Canada by the Minister of Canadian Heritage. The bill is the outcome of numerous representations made by Quebecor and many other Canadian media organizations and associations. It would regulate negotiations between the Web giants and news outlets to ensure fair and equitable compensation for the use of the content created by the latter. 

Quebecor has long argued that, to preserve the industry’s sustainability and vitality, original content from the various platforms had to be included in this bill.

The creation of a payment system is necessary in view of the Web giants’ market dominance. These platforms use the content produced by Canadian news organizations to generate a significant portion of the interactions on their networks, and should be required to pay a fair price for it.
 

Like other sovereign jurisdictions, Canada is taking action to protect the intellectual property produced by its news media. This bill recognizes that the use and dissemination of news content without payment by foreign platforms is unfair and harmful to our society. Now an agreement for payment commensurate with the quality of our news content must be established. News is vital for a healthy, robust, sustainable democracy, at a time when the industry has been endangered by the proliferation of social networks