eNewsletter • AUTUMN 2019
Nathalie Bastien (left), the Canadian Media Guild’s Francophone Issues director, and Jean-Philippe Angers (centre),
president of the Montreal Location Unit of the Canadian Press Branch, gave the union’s presentation to the Quebec
National Assembly’s hearing on media.
Guild urges Quebec to include CP in aid for media
The struggling Quebec newspaper industry, highlighted when Groupe Capitales Médias (GCM) applied for bankruptcy protection in August, needs what The Canadian Press has to offer. Too bad the Quebec government, which announced a tax credit program for original local journalism shortly after the GCM summer bombshell dropped, doesn’t realize it.
The program excludes CP under the pretext it does not publish its journalism directly; the oversight stands to hurt the valuable reporting that the news service provides to Quebec clients.
Last month, two members of the Canadian Media Guild (CWA Canada Local 30213), which represents staff at CP, appeared before the Quebec parliamentary Commission on culture and education, which is examining the future of the news media in the province, to make the case for the company.
Nathalie Bastien, director of Francophone Issues at CMG and a journalist at Radio-Canada in Ottawa-Gatineau, and Jean-Philippe Angers, president of CMG’s Montreal location unit of The Canadian Press and a journalist for CP’s French Services, travelled to Rouyn-Noranda on Oct. 11 to make their presentation.
They explained the role of the news service and how CP supports local newspapers in Quebec (and some radio broadcasters like Radio-Canada) by providing national news, sports, entertainment and other reporting that allows a publisher or broadcaster to focus on local and regional news that no one else is covering. The complementary reporting provided by CP helps local newspapers provide well-rounded coverage their readers are looking for while focusing their limited resources on the things they can do best.
Because it translates reports from the company’s English services, CP is also a major source of news from the rest of Canada for francophone audiences in Quebec.
The CMG presenters put the emphasis on CP’s necessity and need to be included in financial aid, to allow for its survival and to have sufficient staffing.
“The Canadian Press is the only national, bilingual wire service in Canada and it has a strong footing in Quebec; its necessity is unequivocal,” said Bastien. “But declining revenues in the industry have hurt every news organization, including the French services of the Canadian Press. The Quebec government should be helping The Canadian Press in the same way it is helping local Quebec media.
“The future of the newspapers is at stake, the concentration of the press is a threat, in this world of fake news where real journalism is essential. The Canadian Press has been an essential part of our ecosystem for 100 years and it is the government's duty to ensure its survival.”
“Our newsroom has lost about one-third of its staff in the last 12 years,” said Angers. “We do a lot with what we have, but we should be supported so that we can do more. That’s the message we brought to the members of the national assembly who are looking into how to support Quebec’s media industry.”
The new Quebec aid to newsrooms, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2019 (that was announced before the end of the commission's work and report) is expected to cost the public treasury $50 million a year in tax credits, worth 35 per cent on the salary of a journalist earning up to $75,000 annually. Some 200 media organizations in Quebec employing approximately 1,200 workers are eligible.
Excluding CP from the tax credit puts the news service at a disadvantage compared to the clients it serves and sends a message that it doesn’t matter in Quebec’s media ecosystem.
“CP’s Services français is a big contributor to the six daily newspapers in the GCM chain,” said Angers. “The flipside is that those newspapers are important clients of the company. Together, we play a key role in serving readers in Ottawa-Gatineau, Québec City, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Trois-Rivières and Granby with original reporting. It doesn’t make sense for the government to support one element of that system but not another.”
You can read the CMG’s written submission to the Quebec commission (in French) here:
www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/travaux-parlementaires/commissions/CCE/mandats/Mandat-40735/memoires-deposes.html (page 2: Guilde canadienne des médias)
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