Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge speaks with media in the Foyer of the House of Commons about funding for the CBC, in Ottawa, on Dec. 4.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Jonah Prousky is a management consultant and freelance writer who focuses on business, technology and society.
It was a good day for the federal government, but it’s not out of the woods just yet on Bill C-18.
After months of negotiations, Google GOOG-Q has agreed to pay an inflation-adjusted $100-million a year to Canadian news providers for carrying links to their content. The deal, which was announced last week by Pascal St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, is a welcome development for the government after its months-long standoff with the tech giant.
On balance, the deal is good for Canada. It will provide much-needed funding to some of the country’s news businesses. It also proves that the federal government can make C-18 palatable for Big Tech, just as many critics were beginning to think negotiations with Google were doomed.
Yet,........