Poilievre comes out swinging against CRTC's 'Netflix tax,' says it could derail U.S. trade talks

Poilievre demands Carney cube CRTC's call to treble streaming funding for Cancon

conservativist Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding Prime Minister Mark Carney step in and overrule the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as it forces mostly American web giants pay more to fund homegrown media content.

"This will be a consumer tax, it will all be passed on. Let's not be naive and pretend that the web giants or the streamers are just going to absorb it. Of course they're going to make Canadians pay more," Poilievre said.

"For God's sake, let people come home and relax and enjoy their favourite binge-watching experience without paying another tax."

Poilievre said the CRTC's decision could also put Canadian workers in a bind if the Trump administration lashes out and hikes or imposes new tariffs, given its longstanding opposition to making American firms contribute to Canadian cultural content.

"We might see more steel, auto, aluminum and lumber workers lose their jobs because of the retaliation the Liberal tax hike might provoke," Poilievre said.

Poilievre says U.S. Could retaliate against Canada over 'Netflix tax'

"Keeping this tax in place sends a message to investors and trading partners that Canada is more expensive, less predictable and harder to do business in," he wrote.

The last Liberal government passed the Online Streaming Act into law in 2023 to force mostly American streamers to pay more to support the Canadian media ecosystem, which faces stiff competition from an onslaught of foreign content.

Traditional Canadian broadcasters have paid into various funds for years to create Canadian television programs, movies and news, and they have argued that new American entrants should also be on the hook if they want to do business here.

The government then left it up to the CRTC, the broadcast regulator, to decide how much these foreign companies should be required to pay to protect what it called Canadian "cultural sovereignty."

After years of consultations, the CRTC landed on a rate last week: 15 per cent of all revenue these firms collect here in Canada should be dedicated to creating Canadian content, up from the 5 per cent rate the CRTC previously imposed on an interim basis.

The contributions are not a direct "tax" on consumers but critics like Poilievre argue that the firms will inevitably squeeze more money out of subscribers to cover the revenue they must now earmark for Canadian programming.

All of this has drawn the ire of the Trump administration as its trade envoy says the Online Streaming Act is a major irritant in the ongoing Canada-U.S. Trade talks.

As the two sides drive toward a renewal of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) by a July 1 deadline, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has said Canada must scrap the law that he says "discriminates against U.S. Tech and media firms" if there's going to be a deal.

In fact, doing away with that act has consistently been one of Greer's top demands of Canada, alongside reworking supply management for some farm sectors and ending the provincial boycotts of U.S. Liquor.

The CRTC's decision to extract even more money from American media firms could further snarl the trade talks.

Indeed, in a statement late Friday, Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, said the CRTC is "making a bad situation worse."

"CRTC is targeting and taxing U.S. Companies, putting up new, discriminatory trade barriers, and worsening the investment climate for American businesses."

The Motion Picture Association, which speaks for the firms that will be asked to pay more, also condemned the CRTC decision.

The group's chairman and CEO, Charles Rivkin, said in a statement the regulator is creating a "burdensome framework" that "unfairly targets global streamers with requirements that directly violate Canada's obligations under [CUSMA]."

"This decision triples the cost of doing business in Canada and will spark even more inflation in the market, making further investment and innovation less attractive."

Poilievre said if Americans hit back with higher tariffs, Canadians could face a "double whammy" of higher taxes on streaming services and more lost jobs.

"We're already suffering with unjustified tariffs," he said. "The answer to one tariff from abroad is not a new tax from the Liberals here at home."

While Carney has said there's been a "rupture" in the Canada-U.S. Relationship after Trump's trade war, Poilievre has been urging the Liberal government to quickly hash out a CUSMA deal and deepen economic ties to the U.S. going forward.

The CRTC is an independent, quasi-judicial body empowered to force web giants to pay whatever it mandates.

While it operates at arms-length from the prime minister and his cabinet, Poilievre said that's no excuse and Carney could step in to block this from going through.

According to the Broadcasting Act, the government could ask the regulator to "set aside the decision or refer the decision back to the Commission for reconsideration."

"We're not going to allow Mark Carney to simply pass the buck onto his favourite bureaucrats and let them take the blame for this," Poilievre said. "It's a Liberal law that enabled this."

Heritage Minister Marc Miller has so far been non-committal about what the government will do. 

"We are reviewing the CRTC decision. As we carefully assess its impacts, it will always be paramount to ensure that Canadians continue to see themselves reflected on screen, hear Canadian voices, and celebrate what makes this country unique," Miller said in a statement.

Senior reporter

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