Letter to Minister Guilbeault

Regarding the close relationship between the Liberal government and web giants

Dear Honourable Steven Guilbeault,

Media reports recently revealed that the Director General of Broadcasting, Copyright and Creative Marketplace at Canadian Heritage agreed to circulate a job offer from Facebook at the request of Kevin Chan, a former employee of the Liberal Party of Canada and the current Global Director and Public Policy Officer at Facebook Inc. This decision is problematic as it came only weeks after the publication of the Yale report which sounded the alarm about the devastating effects that unfair competition from web giants like Facebook have on the survival of our local and regional media.

Canadian workers in the cultural sector and in local media are increasingly concerned about the close relationship between the digital giants and the Liberal government. This email exchange comes on top of more than 100 lobbying meetings between these multinationals and the federal government. Workers affected by unfair competition from companies like Facebook are concerned that this close relationship is to the detriment of their jobs and that it undermines Canadians’ access to independent and reliable information.

In order to shed light on Facebook's and the Liberal government’s practices, on November 16 2020, the Canadian Heritage Committee adopted an NDP motion to study the relationship between Facebook Inc. and the federal government, asking, among other things, for the government to share with Committee members all emails since November 2015 where Canadian Heritage has agreed to circulate job offers on behalf of Facebook Inc.

As the Minister, I am asking you to ensure that all requested emails are shared with Committee members such that we may verify whether Canadian Heritage has used its public resources to benefit Facebook Inc. As Canadian Heritage has the mandate to regulate web giants and as these multinationals pay no taxes in Canada while siphoning off advertising revenues that Canadian-based media need to provide reliable quality information to Canadians and to pay their workers, these emails are essential to understanding how your Ministry functions in regards to them.

I hope we can count on your efforts to ensure that Canadian Heritage provides Committee members the necessary and requested documents as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Heather McPherson

Member of Parliament for Edmonton Strathcona

NDP Critic for International Development