Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government decided months ago to scrap proposed production fees on Netflix and other streaming services, despite voting in favour of the policy in the House of Commons just weeks before reversing course.Blacklock's Reporter said Carney insisted Wednesday that the decision was driven by affordability concerns rather than pressure from the United States, which had criticized Canada's digital regulations as trade barriers."We made that decision two months ago," Carney told reporters. "We made that decision with a focus on affordability right out of the gate. It's not the time. Canadians have been under great pressure since COVID from overall inflation."Asked whether the reversal was another concession to Washington, Carney replied, "No, not at all. We decided right after the CRTC decision."The controversy stems from a May 21 ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that would have increased mandatory contributions from streaming services from 5% to 15% of their Canadian revenues under Bill C-11, with the money earmarked to support Canadian content production.Despite Carney's latest comments, the Liberal government voted on June 1 against a Conservative motion that would have blocked the increase.The motion was defeated 193-134, with Carney joining the Liberal majority in opposing it.At the time, Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux dismissed Conservative objections."It is not about good public policy," Lamoureux said during debate. "It is about how they can take an issue and generate thousands of emails because people get angry."Just two days later, Heritage Minister Marc Miller suspended implementation of the 15% levy, acknowledging that the issue had become part of trade discussions with the United States."It is no secret to anyone who has been paying attention that the United States Trade Representative has identified these issues as a trade issue," Miller said on June 3.When asked whether the original 5% contribution would remain in place, Miller replied, "That remains to be seen.".The government's position shifted further on July 17 when the Department of Justice informed the Federal Court that Ottawa intended to eliminate mandatory streaming contributions altogether and replace them with direct government funding."The government's intention is to eliminate the base contribution requirement on streaming services and to provide government funding to replace these contributions," federal lawyers wrote in a court filing obtained by The Wire Report.Carney did not explain why the government voted to preserve the fees shortly before deciding to eliminate them.Instead, he emphasized affordability for consumers."The federal government will focus on affordability," Carney said. "Most Canadians have one or two or so of these streamers and it's real money. This stuff adds up."Asked what Canada had received in return for the policy reversal, Carney replied, "We're stronger than we were when this started."The streaming fee reversal follows another high-profile retreat by Ottawa after objections from Washington.Last year, the federal government suspended roughly $3.7 billion in digital services taxes targeting companies including Google and Amazon after the White House argued that only the United States should tax American firms.
