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OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – The Trudeau government has refused to disclose how much taxpayer money individual legacy media outlets received from its near $600 million 2019 media bailout, citing cabinet confidentiality.  

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Canada’s Revenue Agency (CRA) declined to state actual payment amounts in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons. 

Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier stated, “Confidentiality provisions under section 241 of the Income Tax Act prevent the Agency from releasing taxpayer information.” 

Lebouthillier was replying to a request from Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) MP Chris Warkentin to reveal how much funding since January 1, 2019 “… each outlet [has] received to date.”  

As it stands now, the only bailouts to legacy media that have been disclosed are those to companies that are publicly traded, such as the Winnipeg Free Press, which gets $1 million a year in government rebates.  

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the newspaper executives who were required to assist Trudeau’s cabinet design the terms of the 2019 bailout have themselves agreed to not make public how much they received in payments. 

Bob Cox, the former publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press and chair of News Media Canada, served as chairman of a panel made up of eight executives who were tasked with working out the details of the media bailout. They were all appointed by Canada’s Department of Canadian Heritage. 

Cox then said that there is “always self-interest” for media companies as “we are an industry association.”  

He added that the actual amounts of press bailout money were not addressed. Cox thought “the numbers should be included, but that’s my personal opinion.”  

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, there was only one newspaper executive who called out his fellow publishers for conflict of interest.  

Panelist Thomas Saras, president of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council and once publisher of the Greek-language Patrides North American Review, said he would not even “file for our publication because I believe it is a conflict.”  

“I do believe it is a conflict for someone who is presiding over an organization, then works on the panel to set criteria, and then applies for the benefits themselves,” added Saras.   

Saras continued by saying he was not going to “apply although [his] publication qualifies.” 

Martin O’Hanlon, the president of CWA Canada, an organization that represents newsroom unions, said that bailout money is “skewed heavily in favour of entrenched newspapers and their managers.” 

“If this was supposed to be open and transparent, I don’t think that happened here,” said O’Hanlon. 

For decades, Canada’s legacy media were essentially on their own when it came to revenue. 

That all changed in 2019 when the Trudeau Liberals made an election promise that they would give legacy media $600 million over four years in federal assistance. 

In 2021, the Trudeau Liberals gave the state-run Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) $1.4 billion, which accounts for around 70 percent of its total revenue. 

News organizations must be given Qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO) status to receive special tax breaks and to receive government funding.  

In 2019, Canada’s parliament amended the Income Tax Act to allow 25 percent payroll rebates up to a maximum of $13,750 per journalist at QCJO. Cox’s panel had asked for 35 percent in rebates.  

Popular Canadian conservative media outlet Rebel News recently said they would sue the Trudeau government for refusing to give their news organization QCJO status. 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) in February started a petition to demand Trudeau end the billions of dollars in subsidies given to Canada’s CBC as well as other mainstream media outlets. 

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