Canada Periodical Fund

The CPF was originally known as the Postal Subsidy, which predates the Confederation of Canada. It was originally aimed at magazine publishers, who relied on Canada Post to distribute their product.[2]

In June 2017, the CPF subsidy was re-imagined by lobby group News Media Canada (NMC) as the $350 million yearly Canadian Journalism Fund,[2] and sold to then-minister Mélanie Joly. According to the NMC idea, the CJF would take "$175-million of our tax dollars per year to subsidize the first 35 per cent of the salaries of hundreds of journalists who are paid $85,000 or less."[3]

In June 2018, Christie Blatchford said of a press subsidy: "God forbid Ottawa should start to subsidize newspapers too. As a journalist, the thought gives me the shudders."[4]

As early as November 2018 it was promised for the purposes of the 2019 Canadian general election by the Trudeau Liberal Party of Canada, who promised to distribute $595 million over the subsequent five year period.[5]

Conrad Black opined before the election that "An investment by the public sector in Canadian media can be beneficial, if it is politically even-handed and underwrites quality and originality and not just cronyism and the second-rate," and he was concerned about it propping up "corporate ineptitude" or one imagines, malfeasance.[5]

Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced in his November 2018 economic update that "$600 million in tax credits and incentives" would be made "available to selected media outlets over the next five years" under the CPF subsidy.[6] Morneau sought to subsidize the "vital role that independent news media play in our democracy and in our communities".[7] At the time, Paul Godfrey who was then the CEO of Postmedia endorsed the tax credit, and said that it "could be looked upon as a turning point in the plight of newspapers in Canada... I tip my hat to the prime minister and the finance minister. They deserve a lot of credit... Everyone in journalism should be doing a victory lap around their building right now."[7]

The March 2019 Budget established the term "qualified Canadian journalism organization" (QCJO), although it had yet to write into statute law just what a QCJO was. The wage subsidy for journalists was to be retroactive to January 2019.[8]

In May 2019, then-Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez announced that eight organisations would be "asked to select a representative to sit on the Independent Panel",[6] to act as a gatekeeper and "define and promote core journalism standards (and) define professional journalism":[7] News Media Canada, the Association de la presse francophone, the Quebec Community Newspaper Association, the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, the Unifor union, and the Fédération nationale des communications.[6]

In July 2019, a report was submitted by the Independent Panel, entitled the Journalism and Written Media Independent Panel of Experts. In order to qualify as a QCJO according to the Independent Panel, "60 per cent of the content must be written" and "50 per cent of a news outlet’s content must be original news content". Should the CRA question the eligibility of a subsidy beneficiary, a "Second Panel of journalism experts from post-secondary institutions" would consult.[8]

In September 2019, the Conservative Party of Canada "accused the Liberals of trying to bribe the news media". One report said that "Qualified Canadian journalism organizations will be able to claim a 25 per cent refundable tax credit on the salaries of eligible workers, subject to a cap of $55,000, for a maximum tax credit of $13,750 per employee," and "Canadians who pay for a digital news subscription from a qualified news media outlet will be able to claim a 15 per cent tax credit for a maximum of $75 per year for subscriptions purchased from January 2020 onwards."[8]