Unless Trudeau’s team can cap Google’s liability at an agreed-upon level and future-proof that cap — sources indicate an extra $100 million annually is Google’s firm offer — it appears Canada is on the verge of destroying far more journalism jobs than it ever could have hoped to save.

Peter Menzies writing for the MacDonald-Laurier website on August 9, 2023

When I started working in media back in 2009, not many outlets were hiring people without experience. For me freelancing was never intended to be a permanent thing. I wanted the same job, but with health benefits and a steadier wage. It was as my title says; an accident.

As I started applying for jobs, the “no” or the “we’ve decided to move forward with a different candidate” lines piled up. But a weird thing happened. A few months after I’d apply for a job at “company R” I heard about a few hundred job cuts. ‘Phew, dodged a bullet there’ I’d think to myself. But I’d still keep applying, because I’m also an eternal optimist who believes that some day the averages will catch up, and I’ll find that elusive job with health benefits.

Fourteen years, and a couple of attempts at quitting later, I’m still freelancing. But now, through the gift of hindsight, I wonder if all the “no’s”, and the job cuts might have been a harbinger of things to come. That the advertising sales driven business model upon which media built itself started cracking then. It’s taken this long to completely collapse.

I agree with the intentions behind C-18. As an Independent Journalist, I’m one of those who stand to benefit the most. But I disagree with how they’ve done it. There isn’t a business in any industry that wouldn’t want a ceiling on how much money they were giving up to government; it’s part of a budget. There were suggestions of both a flat tax/ year, or money that goes into a fund to subsidize salaries. Both of these might have been more palatable.

I don’t know whether to be angry, sad or frustrated. I think I’m some mix of all three. Optimistically this could be nothing more than a blip while parties cool off, and come to some arrangement. Realistically, it feels like I’m looking at the possibility of losing my job because the government refused to be flexible enough to negotiate.