Tories accuse Liberals of caving to big tech in online news deal with Google – Newmarket Today
November 30, 2023
OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge spoke to a House committee this morning, fresh from finally ending Canada’s standoff with Google over the Online News Act, where the Opposition criticized her for caving to big tech.
St-Onge called the agreement announced Wednesday a “historic development” that gives a win to both the federal government and the local news publishers the law is meant to support.
That’s despite the fact Google has only agreed to spend a maximum of $100 million a year compensating Canadian news outlets for the use of their content, a figure it was offering up before the law was passed in June.
It’s also a far cry from the $172 million that initial government calculations would’ve demanded.
