Lobbyists Throw Temper Tantrum Over CRTC Bill C-11 Implementation

Lobbyists are throwing an absolute fit over how long it is taking the CRTC to implement the Online Streaming Act.

When Bill C-11 was still going through the legislative process, lobbyists argued that implementing this for the CRTC would be no big deal during the hearings. After all, we are talking about regulating the internet, how hard could it possibly be? In fact, it was during the Bill C-18 hearing that the CRTC boasted about how they wouldn’t need any additional staff on top of it all. It was basically like the CRTC said that the mattress on the roof of their car is nicely secure because their hand is on it while driving down the freeway with them saying “I got it, I got it”.

Of course, that was all clear back in 2022 and, as it turns out, boasting about how regulating the internet is no big deal because it can’t be all that complicated turned out to be ideas that are haunting both the CRTC and lobbyists. After the extremely unfortunate passage of the bill, things started getting rather complicated in ways that everyone except lobbyists and government could see coming.

In 2023, after realizing that regulating the internet was going to be a much trickier task than expected, the CRTC cleared it’s whole schedule for two years to try and implement the legislation while conducting hearings. Yes, regulating the internet, as it turns out, was a bit more complicated than they thought. Big shock, I know. It turns out, those crazy experts were right all along.

Of course, clearing the schedule for two years came with a number of consequences. There were plenty of businesses that were trying to make adjustments to their licenses, but instead of getting that slam dunk decision to make those decisions, all they got were extensions to existing license agreements. Wanting to increase the power of your radio station? Sorry bud, the CRTC is too busy trying to idiotically regulate the internet. Back to the line you go and ask again in a few years. Businesses can wait a few years on a regulatory decision, right? After all, they are very very patient people.

Unsurprisingly, even that two year extension wasn’t enough. In 2025, the CRTC cleared it’s schedule again and extended their implementation timeline all the way to 2027. So, implementation was going to at least take a whopping 5 years and, even then, it was unclear if they’d even make that new extended extended deadline.

The question is, what is taking so long? Well, part of the problem is the fact that the CRTC is racking up lawsuits. Yup, the same bill that the government swore up and down was completely constitutional and won’t impact your Charter rights among other things is getting litigated like crazy. How many lawsuits could possibly ensue? One… two… three… four… five… six! Yup, at least six lawsuits now! Yeah, let’s just say it kind of complicates things when you keep racking up lawsuits like that.

Of course, another major problem in all of this is the fact that the government punted a lot of these problems to the CRTC in the first place. How is Canadian content going to be promoted on platforms like YouTube? That’s for the CRTC to decide. How is Canadian content defined? Is it just content made by the established media or can anyone in Canada have their content defined as Canadian content? That’s for the CRTC to decide. How can you implement this bill in a constitutional manner? The CRTC will figure it all out. How will user generated content be regulated? The CRTC can figure it all out… oh, and user generated content is totally not regulated! Pinky swear! (Narrator: it’s getting regulated to death) All of the important questions were largely punted to the CRTC to figure out. That is a big reason how you got this massive mess in the first place.

Now, the real motivating factor in all of this is the fact that the lobbyists were hoping to score a massive payday. They would get paid huge sums of money while having their content prioritized over user-generated content- err, stupid “cat videos” that is “not art”. That was what the real goal is there. They took the idiocy of the 2000s businessman who demanded that their website appears at the top of all search results and demanded that their video’s be prioritized over everyone else. This with the end goal that they get all of the views over everyone else no matter what. Wanting to view that car mechanic video? Sorry, you must’ve meant that you wanted to view Family Feud Canada. Let’s just force feed you that and expect you to be grateful that you had your preferences “corrected” there.

Today, I found out that the patience of lobbyists hoping to have their monopolistic powers enforced on the internet is wearing thin now. That free money they were expecting? Yup, still not making its way to their respective bank accounts. As a result, they are taking their frustrations out on the CRTC for the crime of not carrying out their marching orders (how dare they!?). That has now put the CRTC on the defense. From the National News Watch:

CRTC chairperson Vicky Eatrides says the regulator would like to move more quickly to modernize Canada’s broadcasting system, but implementing the new rules is complex work and the CRTC must consider conflicting opinions.

“We would all like to go faster,” she said in a wide-ranging interview with The Canadian Press. “It’s balancing getting it done quickly and getting it done right. These are hugely complex issues.”

The CRTC has taken a lot of heat from critics who say it is taking too long to complete its work. On Tuesday, CPAC, the Canadian service that provides direct coverage of political events, said the CRTC’s delay in implementing the Online Streaming Act was partly to blame for its decision to cut two flagship news programs.

In a social media post reacting to the cuts at CPAC and the associated layoffs, Culture Minister Marc Miller said he was “disappointed that the CRTC is not moving faster to fully implement the Online Streaming Act, a law that ensures online streamers pay their fair share.”

The thing with CPAC is the fact that the recent cuts were actually supposedly contingent on a very different thing. CPAC asked the CRTC to give it a wholesale rate increase. They argued that without the rate increase, they would have to cut programming. The CRTC apparently responded by granting that wholesale increase. CPAC, in turn, slashed those programs anyway. From Broadcast Dialogue:

CPAC (Cable Public Affairs Channel) has announced it’s laying off staff and cutting programs despite the CRTC’s recent approval of a three cent wholesale rate increase set to take effect this fall.

The not-for-profit parliamentary affairs channel – which is funded by a consortium of cable providers that includes Rogers, Videotron, Cogeco, Eastlink, and Access Communications – said Tuesday it’s been forced to make some “difficult and necessary decisions” that include cancelling the production of its flagship shows PrimeTime Politics and L’Essentiel, in addition to an untold number of layoffs.

“Today, we are sharing difficult news,” said CEO Christa Dickenson. “This is not a reflection of the people affected. Our former colleagues are dedicated and talented professionals who have made meaningful contributions to Canadian journalism and broadcasting. We are grateful to them and thank them sincerely.”

In its statement, CPAC said the channel is navigating a “volatile, complex and ambiguous environment” as it faces accelerating revenue declines and continued uncertainty in the broadcasting landscape.

“The CRTC’s recent approval of a 3-cent rate increase, set to take effect this September, is helpful in the short-term and comes at a time when financial pressures on our organization have intensified,” the organization said. “Subscriber erosion has nearly doubled since 2024. Delays in modernizing the broadcasting system have prolonged the uncertainty around when predictable, reliable, and stable long-term funding mechanisms will be in place.”

This BS is not even anything new. Other companies have ransomed their own employees to try and get what they want at the regulatory level. Indeed, Bell was quite notorious for this kind of crap. Bell argued that they need to get Bill C-11 and Bill C-18 passed or they would be forced to make deep cuts to their staffing because they are oh so falling on hard times. After they got everything they wanted, they slashed 9% of their workforce anyway. Shortly after, they had the audacity to raise dividend payouts on top of it all and say that they had to make the job cuts because they weren’t getting free money fast enough. This pissed off the government for reasons that should be obvious, but above all else, none of this was part of the deal. Bell, of course, didn’t care because they issued not one, but two additional rounds of layoffs afterwards.

From the sounds of things, CPAC pulled the exact same stunt here. Tell regulators that they are going to have to cut programming unless they get everything they are asking for. Then, when they get everything they asked for, slash that programming anyway because that was the intent the entire time. The excuse of the Online Streaming Act not being implemented fast enough is very obviously just a throw away excuse on top of it all.

Still, it’s awfully rich seeing companies by and large get everything they want throw temper tantrums anyway. I have a hard time having sympathy for any of these companies when they pull stunts like this. Still, the chances Canadians at large hearing about these ridiculous things is pretty low given that it is being pulled by the very same media companies who tell you how reliable and trustworthy they are. This while conveniently deciding that such stories aren’t really in the national interest. Fancy that.

Drew Wilson on Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook.