The bastards did it. The Liberal-NDP bloc of the House of Commons passed Bill C-18, the Online News Act, disregarding thoughtful amendments made to it by the Senate. .For those not following every twist and turn of Big Media's latest shakedown, the Online News Act was designed to pilfer money from Facebook and Google for those companies making news content available to readers. Yeah, doesn't make sense to me either. .Facebook's parent company, Meta has warned for over a year that if the bill passed (in its original, and final form), that they would "turn off the news" in Canada. And hours after Parliament passed the bill they doubled down, confirming that in the coming months — before the bill comes into force — that is exactly what they will be doing. .The Liberals and Big Media bosses were shocked. SHOCKED I tell you, that Meta is doing what they said they would do. .Now the Canadian media — big Eastern/US corporations and small independents alike — face a readership apocalypse. Most Canadians find their news through Facebook and Google. Without these two sources, readership is going to dry up fast. That will mean less money from subscriptions, and from advertising. .For the grifters at News Media Canada — which falsely claim to represent the news industry in Canada — this is bad. Their readership will shrink considerably. But it's not that bad. They can always go back to Daddy Warbucks and ask the federal government for even more bailout money to cover off the shortfall. .They will be made whole by Ottawa. But the big silver lining for them is that their competing independent online upstarts — like the Western Standard — will see their readership drop off without the buckets of federal cash. .Moment of Truth.This raises the very uncomfortable question for independent publishers like the Western Standard: how long can we continue to see our tax dollars used against us while the federal government passes laws to cut off even our readership? .Our refusal to accept the federal money is admittedly a bit self-righteous, but it has been the right thing to do. Government funding the media is just wrong. If you need to be told why, you probably don't belong in a free country. .But at some point, we will just not be able to compete against our own tax dollars. We have thus far, but now we are seeing our readership about to be hacked by federal legislation (Online News Act,) our broadcast reach hurt (Online Streaming Act) and our voices censored (Online Harms Act.) Taken together, this is an existential threat to the free press. .So what's a publisher to do? Continue to refuse, go out of business, and leave the media to the Eastern and American owned corporations that control nearly everything else? Just let the CBC and Postmedia have the field to themselves? .Or do we swallow our pride, get with the program and continue providing Westerners with a professional independent media? .I honestly don't know, and the decision chokes me. I woke up this morning gritting my teeth, already angry before I had breakfast. .It's not a decision we should have to make. We should be allowed to compete in a free market of ideas and media in Canada, striving to make a better product than our competitors every day. But we're not. We're throttled at every turn by federal legislation and we see our tax dollars weaponized against us as subsidies for our much larger competitors. .I want to hear from you, our readers. Seriously, I want your feedback as to how the Western Standard should deal with this going forward. Please send me your thoughts at dfildebrandt@westernstandard.news
