The Bloc Québécois wants Ottawa to bring back the tax on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and it used its Opposition Day in the House of Commons on Thursday to force the issue. It’s the same fight that started when the CRTC set a 15 per cent contribution rate for big streamers this spring.
Martin Champoux, the Bloc’s heritage, arts and culture critic, is behind a motion calling on the government to respect the CRTC’s decisions to impose a tax on online broadcasters, as the Broadcasting Act provides. It also asks Ottawa to make an interim payment of the $600 million promised to the cultural sector for this year, according to the party’s release.
That $600 million goes back to June, when Ottawa scrapped the streaming tax and promised public funding instead. The motion’s preamble also takes aim at the government for abolishing the Digital Services Tax on American tech giants.
In comments translated from French, Champoux said Prime Minister Mark Carney “put our culture in peril” by forcing the CRTC to cancel the tax on Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like. He called the $600 million a “meagre compensation” for what he described as a capitulation meant to please Donald Trump.
Champoux also pointed to Europe, saying it has had “the courage to stand up to the Americans,” while Canada made “a serious mistake.” “We’re offering it the chance to correct itself,” he said.
The motion goes to a vote on Monday, October 26. Carney already refused to bring back the tech tax and streaming fees when the Bloc pressed him in September, so the tax would only return if the government changes course.
For anyone paying for Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV, Disney+ or Spotify, a streaming tax cuts both ways. It would send more money to Canadian content, but streamers like Spotify have pushed back, and any new costs could end up on your monthly bill.
Should streaming giants have to pay into Canadian content, even if it means higher subscription prices?
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