JOHN Aldag, MP for Cloverdale–Langley City, has welcomed the agreement with Google regarding the implementation of the Online News Act, following weeks of productive discussions. The agreement was announced last week by Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage.
The Online News Act, which comes into effect on December 19, facilitates fair commercial relationships between digital platforms, like Google, and Canadian news outlets.
Google has agreed to contribute $100 million in financial support annually, indexed to inflation, for a wide range of news businesses across the country, including independent news businesses and those from Indigenous and official-language minority communities.
In addition to its financial contribution, Google will continue to make programs available for Canadian news businesses, such as training, tools, and resources, for business development and support for non-profit journalism projects.
Aldag said: “With newsrooms cutting positions or closing entirely, the health of the Canadian news industry has never been more at risk. Our government was confident from the start that the Online News Act was a viable solution to supporting Canada’s news organizations. I thank Google for its cooperation in conversations with the Minister’s team.”

He added: “I hope we will soon see Meta at the discussion table so we can see the return of access to all Canadian news on the platforms Canadians rely on.”