‘Culture is not on the table’ in trade talks amid film tariff threats & domestic digital policy uncertainty, says Guilbeault

The heritage minister is defending the Online Streaming Act amid an ongoing court challenge by international streaming companies and his government’s apparent openness to either repeal or replace other measures intended to protect Canada’s film and television industry as it seeks a deal with the United States. While Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) has already cancelled his predecessor’s digital services tax and recently indicated his openness to “all avenues” of adjusting the Online News Act, Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault (Laurier–Sainte-Marie, Que.) told a recent gathering of Canadian producers and media executives that culture isn’t on the chopping block. “Let me be crystal clear: as Canada works out its new trade relationship with the U.S., culture is not and will not be on the table,” Guilbeault said at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s Hill Day reception on Oct. 7. “Our government’s priority is to get the best deal for Canadians and for our industries.” Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault speaks to attendees at the Canadian Media Producers’ Hill Day reception at the Château Laurier Hotel in Ottawa on Oct. 7. The Hill Times photograph by Stuart Benson. Reception attendees who spoke with The Hill Times said they were concerned about the fate of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, given the ongoing court challenge by international streaming companies, and the government’s seeming openness to use the digital policies implemented by the previous Liberal government as “bargaining chips” in the current trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump. The legislation, which received royal assent in April 2023, amended the Canadian Broadcasting Act to regulate online streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify. It requires those platforms to showcase and contribute to the production of “Canadian stories and music” in both official languages and Indigenous languages. Last December, large streaming companies like Netflix, Disney, Apple, and Spotify launched a court challenge against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) June 2024 order that foreign streamers must contribute five per cent of their annual Canadian revenues to a fund devoted to producing domestic content, including local TV and radio news. On Dec. 23, 2024, a Federal Court of Appeal judge ruled that those payments—which the CRTC estimated would generate up to $200-million in annual funding per streamer—would be paused until the court process concluded. The parties agreed to an expedited schedule to hold proceedings last June before the majority of the payments came due the following month. Alongside the court challenge, the industry has also been recently unnerved by Trump’s renewed threat of 100-per-cent tariffs on “any and all movies” made outside of the U.S. “Our movie-making business has been stolen from the by other countries,” Trump wrote in a Sept. 29 Truth Social post, reviving similar threats he made this past May when he directed his Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative to “immediately begin the process” of imposing the tariff. However, Trump has yet to sign an executive order to do so. In August, the U.S. State Department also criticized the Online News Act in a human rights report examining press freedom in Canada. This followed a letter from 18 Republicans in the U.S. Congress to Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling the legislation “discriminatory” against American companies. Earlier in August, Carney suggested his government was open to replacing or repealing C-18 to improve the reach of local media on social platforms like Facebook, which Guilbeault’s office told Politico in September is not on the table. This followed the Liberals’ rescinding the digital services tax this past June “in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement” with Trump, days after the U.S. president demanded it be repealed and briefly cut off negotiations. Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, returned to the White House on Oct. 7, a week after U.S. President Donald Trump again threatened 100-per-cent tariffs on all foreign-made films. White House photograph by Daniel Torok. During his CMPA reception speech last week, Guilbeault attempted to assuage the crowd’s “concern about what’s happening south of the border,” and how these changes could affect the media sectors. Guilbeault also specifically defended the Online Streaming Act and his government’s belief that the “big players in audio-visual and cultural sectors … have a role to play in investing in success and sustainability.” “By working together, we can strengthen domestic production, support Canadian talented creators, and make sure that our stories get told,” Guilbeault said, adding that this “is what the Online Streaming Act is for.” “That’s why we’re updating federal support for the audiovisual sector, taking on productivity challenges, making sure Canadian content reaches Canadian audiences, modernizing our institutions, and reforming the tax credit system,” Guilbeault said. READ MORE FROM STUART BENSON: - Civil liberties groups urge Liberals to withdraw ‘vague’ anti-hate bill that opposition MPs say is ‘trying to lower the bar’ for prosecution - CPAC celebrates more than three decades of ‘unconditional neutrality’ However, in response to follow-up questions from The Hill Times about whether the minister had been given any assurances that the act would not be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Trump, Guilbeault’s office said it would not “comment publicly on detailed aspects of these discussions.” “Canada’s new government remains focused on getting the right deal for Canada in our negotiations with the United States,” wrote press secretary Hermine Landry. Kyle Irving, a co-owner and producer with Eagle Vision and newly named CMPA chair, told The Hill Times it was “heartening” to hear Guilbeault’s commitment that “Canadian culture won’t be on the table,” and that he and the CMPA are “confident he meant what he said.” Irving noted that Guilbeault’s language mirrored that found in recent CMPA-commissioned survey results from Pollara, which found that 78 per cent of Canadians feel that culture should be “off the table” as a possible concession in trade negotiations. The survey, released on Oct. 6, also found that 87 per cent of respondents supported the Act, with at least 83 per cent support in all regions of the country. By party, 96 per cent of Liberals and 97 per cent of Bloc Québécois supporters said they were in favour of the Act, with 74 per cent of Conservatives also indicating support. In the context of trade negotiations with the U.S., 68 per cent said Canada should defend the legislation, while only 13 per cent said it should be used as a bargaining chip. Irving said that while Guilbeault has been a “long-time great supporter of Canadian stories and culture,” the “overwhelming” support from Canadians— particularly for the Online Streaming Act—gave Irving added confidence that the minister “meant what he said.” “If the prime minister is considering using the , or anything related to culture and heritage, as a bargaining chip … he should rethink that,” Irving said, advising Carney to look at the same polling data. “Canadians want to see themselves reflected through their media; they want to see their stories told, and they want to feel a sense of pride about that,” Irving said. “If I were a politician, I wouldn’t mess with that.” However, while Guilbeault was firm with the CMPA that Canada would not back down to Trump, his office was unwilling to provide the same assurances regarding the court challenge and what it called the recent “speculation” raised by comments from CRTC chair and CEO Vicky Eatrides at the Oct. 1 House Canadian Heritage Committee where she briefed MPs on the ongoing implementation of the Act. In response to a question from Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux (Drummond, Que.) about whether the ongoing court challenge by online streamers could affect implementation, Eatrides said that “it depends on the decision.” Scott Shortliffe, the CRTC’s vice-president of broadcasting, told the committee that the commission’s implementation proceedings have continued as the court case advances. Additionally, he said some streamers have still made contributions—with the money held in trust—that have already been distributed to recipients at their request. “They are not legally required to do that. They have chosen to do so,” Shortliffe said, adding that the CRTC does not administer the funding, and did not have a full accounting of the total amount distributed. Irving said he won’t attempt to predict the outcome of the court challenge, but that “the underlying principles of the legislation stand,” regardless of the final ruling. “Those who benefit and derive significant revenues from access to Canadian audiences in our system should be required to pay to contribute to Canadian stories,” Irving said. “The specifics of how that might happen can be adjusted. But the principle stands: if you benefit from the system, you should contribute to it.” sbenson@hilltimes.com This article was originally published in The Hill Times.

‘Culture is not on the table’ in trade talks amid film tariff threats & domestic digital policy uncertainty, says Guilbeault

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By Stuart Benson
|October 20, 2025

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‘Culture is not on the table’ in trade talks amid film tariff threats & domestic digital policy uncertainty, says Guilbeault

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