Atlantic Canada’s largest media conglomerate Saltwire, which was deemed insolvent this week, pocketed taxpayer subsidies while failing to pay its taxes, court records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter show. The company’s CEO Mark Lever earlier testified the newspaper chain was “vital to our democracy.”“SaltWire has had a significant outstanding debt to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for some time,” according to Nova Scotia Supreme Court records. While racking up the $7 million in unpaid tax debt since 2020, Saltwire has successfully applied to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government’s media bailout. The delinquent tax bill is approximately the value of $7.7 million in mortgaged real estate SaltWire owned in St. John’s, Sydney and Yarmouth, NS. In addition to the CRA debt, company debts are a “significant” $94 million, court documents show. While seeking bailout subsidies, Lever in 2016 petitioned the Commons Heritage Committee for taxpayers’ aid for the sake of democracy. “Journalism’s role in our democracy remains pivotal,” testified Lever. “It is fundamental.”“Newspapers with reporters in communities throughout Canada are the food supply of our democracy but this food supply is in serious risk of running out,” said Lever. “The media business model is changing.”In 2019, the Trudeau Liberals approved a $595 million media bailout, which handed out payroll rebates of up to $13,750 per newsroom employee. In November 2023, those rebates doubled to $29,750. It was too late to save Saltwire, which was one of the first media companies to benefit from the bailout, by the time the government handout doubled — the media company was already in default on its loans. “There was an unprecedented number of subscription cancellations and a sharp decline in single newspaper sales,” a SaltWire executive testified in a separate 2021 wrongful dismissal suit in Halifax. The court was told the media company was “experiencing steady and consistent year over year declines in revenue” even before the COVID-19 pandemic.”Recent in-house Privy Council research shows a majority of taxpayers oppose ongoing media subsidies. “Only a small number indicated being worried about this issue,” said a report called Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians’ Views.
