Canada is a country in the northern part of North America, with 10 provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Canada’s southern border with the United States stretches 8,891 kilometres, making it the world’s longest bi-national land border. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau serving as its head of government and Elizabeth II as its queen.
Apart from a limited number of community broadcasters, media in Canada are primarily owned by a small number of companies, including Bell, Corus, Rogers, Newcap and Quebecor. Each of these companies holds a mix of television, radio, newspaper, magazine and internet operations. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or CBC, is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster for both radio and television. Funding for the corporation has often been.
In Fall 2018, the Government of Canada announced a $600-million bailout for print journalism – two tax credits and a measure to encourage charitable donations to eligible journalism organizations. The federal government has come under fire for its controversial decision to appoint legacy media organizations to determine the allocation of funds. Media bloodletting in Canada has been a source of concern for more than decade with more than 1/3 of journalism jobs being lost.
Update: CBC has been awarded $500,000 in costs . That is a huge deal for free expression. We may very well see an end to lawsuits being fled to shut down media inquiry, and this kind of cost award deters corporations from trying to use the courts to muzzle environmentalists and anyone else who criticizes … Read more
The Economist has published an outstanding feature article on the attacks on free speech by autocrats, but also by governments, like India’s, that are still considered democratic. The writer has the intellectual sophistication to understand that free speech is undermined in three ways, which I explained in my book Kill the Messengers: Stephen Harper’s Assault … Read more
Marijuana prohibition in Canada was imposed because of a belief among early 20th century decision-makers that social ills could be reduced, or even eliminated, by government action.[1] Senior politicians, media, and progressive elements in society, especially women’s activists, social reformers and farmers’ movements, also accepted the premise that marijuana was a dangerous drug that should … Read more
(This is adapted from a piece I wrote for Maclean’s magazine earlier this year. The piece is about censorship, but the real topic is the value of news — even when that news is bad. Press censorship was extended after the end of the First World War while the government was trying to crush what … Read more
We’re heading into a federal election, and this campaign looks especially nasty. This column is a warning for journalists and political insiders to stay focused on facts and to deal fairly. The alternative is to risk writing a take-down of a politician that could lead to a (admittedly rare, for a column written in a … Read more
A web site that parodied the Journal de Montreal has been whacked with a $23,500 judgment for trademark infringement. The judge took the site’s profits from the parody (plus costs). That means college papers that traditionally do spoof issues must be careful to make sure their parodies don’t look too much like the real thing. … Read more
The Globe and Mail has offered buyouts to staffers to try to cut $10 million a year from its payroll. A big buyout, in 2013, saw the paper lose some of its best newsroom talent. Kirk Makin, Canada’s premier justice and legal reporter, left the paper, along with several top investigative reporters like Stan Oziewicz, … Read more
When you’re so abhorrent that Rebel Media fires you and big social media outlets know you by name — in a very bad way — it’s time to rethink your thought processes. I could analyze this, but it’s just flat-out ill. What I will say is that the hard right — Trump, Ford, Scheer — … Read more
Self-professed Shame Wizard Jesse Brown fired another shot into his own foot last week. Then, as he usually does, reloaded and shot the other one. On the May 2 edition of Canadaland Short Cuts, Brown smears Newfoundlanders for taking offence at being labeled ‘Newfies’, calling them overly-sensitive white people, and claiming they “want Newfoundland to be … Read more
Pointes Protection, the key Ontario Court of Appeal case on Ontario’s Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation law (discussed in an earlier post) is headed to Canada’s top court. Anyone who wants to understand the core of the SLAPP law should read the ONCA’s decision on Pointes, not just for its take on the law itself, … Read more