Province gives local media financial boost

Government agencies ordered to spend 25% of advertising budgets with Ontario news organizations

The Ontario government is throwing the beleaguered journalism industry a financial lifeline.

In memos to government agencies, boards and commissions including the LCBO and Metrolinx, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has mandated that the organizations must spend at least 25 per cent of their advertising budget with Ontario-based news organizations.

“Ontario’s major government agencies are some of the largest advertisers in the province, together spending well over $100 million on marketing each year,” Ford wrote in a memo sent to the LCBO late last week.

“These significant advertising budgets should help support Ontario-based publishers and the Ontario-based workers creating local news content for people in our province,” Ford added. Other agencies, boards and commissions received similar memos.

Ford also committed to spending 25 per cent of the government’s own advertising budget with Ontario-based news organizations. Sources familiar with government finances estimated conservatively that the government itself spends at least $100 million per year in advertising.

Toronto Star owner and publisher Jordan Bitove, who has called for a similar commitment from Canadian businesses, praised the government decision, saying it comes at a crucial time for the industry, and for democracy.

“Premier Ford and his government have shown outstanding leadership in supporting Canadian-owned and operated journalism,” said Bitove. “This support will have a profound impact in ensuring Ontarians are better informed.”

With the proliferation of misinformation on social media eating away at democracy’s foundations, traditional journalism stands as a beacon of reliable information, Bitove added.

“There is no better investment in democracy than supporting quality Canadian journalism. Given what is going on in the world, it has never been more important,” Bitove said.

The Ontario government’s new mandate will be in place by September

and will apply to Ontariobased publishers defined as “qualified Canadian journalism organizations” by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Paul Deegan, president of industry association News Media Canada, also praised Ford’s decision and called on other levels of government to follow suit.

“This is brilliant. We need municipalities, other provinces and the feds to adopt a similarly smart approach to advertising,” Deegan said.

“Governments should be spending taxpayer dollars with trusted news mastheads, rather than with foreign social media behemoths that foment misinformation and disinformation for cheap clicks.”

In the 2022-23 fiscal year, the federal government spent just over $86 million on advertising.

Since 2019, the federal government has funded the Local Journalism Initiative, a program that gives journalism organizations funding to hire reporters to cover underserved communities. In March, the federal government announced a three-year, $58.8-million extension of the program.

The Ontario decision comes at a time when journalism organizations across the country are struggling for survival.

In March, SaltWire Network and Halifax Herald Ltd. were forced into receivership by their biggest creditor, which said the companies owed more than $90 million. Last week, the companies received an extension to their protection from creditors until Aug. 9, amid reports that a potential purchaser was closing in on a deal that would see at least some parts of the companies kept alive.

In January, creditors approved an insolvency proposal by Metroland, a sister company of the Star.

Metroland is owned by Torstar Corp., which is in turn controlled by NordStar Capital.

As part of a restructuring plan announced last September, Metroland cut 605 jobs — roughly twothirds of its workforce — and turned 71 weekly newspapers into online-only publications.

Just over 100 of the terminated workers are unionized and represented by Unifor.

Governments should be spending taxpayer dollars with trusted news mastheads, rather than with foreign social media behemoths that foment misinformation and disinformation for cheap clicks.

PAUL DEEGAN PRESIDENT OF INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION NEWS MEDIA CANADA