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Or sign-in if you have an account.Do Canadians really need to force-feed Canadian content twice over, once as taxpayers and then again through higher streaming bills? Photo by Ronstik/Getty ImagesA core piece of Ottawa’s approach to cultural policy is the Online Streaming Act, or Bill C-11, which among other things requires broadcasters and streaming platforms to showcase Canadian stories and music, contribute to their production and support a broadcasting system that reflects Canada’s diversity.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorTo promote Canadian content, Ottawa has been hell-bent on applying outdated regulations to innovative platforms like Netflix, Spotify and YouTube. These platforms are successful because they provide consumers with what they want — an approach quite different from the federal government’s traditional paternalism in requiring companies to produce or subsidize Canadian content, whether there is consumer demand for it or not.Now that paternalism is being ratcheted up dramatically. The CRTC wants large online streaming services to contribute fully 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content, three times the requirement it set in 2024. Tripling spending obligations would make for one of the most aggressive streaming frameworks in the world. And the extra costs will ultimately be passed on to Canadians.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againAs decades of experience have shown, CanCon regulation tells consumers what they should want and forces companies to create it. And when the market doesn’t respond, Ottawa doesn’t reconsider, it doubles down. Even triples down, apparently.We all want Canadian artists and content creators to thrive. But the Canadian media and entertainment space is now mature enough to stand on its own. Success should be earned by meeting consumer demand, not submitting to government decree. And meeting that demand has never been more possible than it is today. The barriers to putting content on Spotify or YouTube are virtually zero. Justin Bieber launched a global career by uploading videos from his bedroom.Contrast that with how Shania Twain had to navigate talent agents, demo recordings and record labels just to get airplay. The internet has democratized cultural access in ways Ottawa’s bureaucrats couldn’t design if they tried. So why would we want to apply Shania Twain-era regulations to an industry that has long since moved on?Supporters of CanCon rules say they’re necessary to protect Canadian culture and its producers. But from whom exactly? If Canadian content isn’t succeeding in the domestic market, that’s market feedback, not market failure. For the government to shield Canadian creators from the revealed preferences of Canadian consumers puts things exactly backward. If lawmakers actually listened to consumers, they’d know Canadians like the platforms exactly as they are.We already have a taxpayer-funded vehicle to promote Canadian culture: the CBC. Do Canadians really need to force-feed Canadian content twice over, once as taxpayers and then again through higher streaming bills? The CRTC says the new framework will stabilize funding at more than $2 billion in support of Canadian and Indigenous content. That’s a staggering sum extracted from the wallets of ordinary subscribers — and for content that Ottawa mandates but most Canadians don’t seek out voluntarily.Ottawa’s own framing of the Online Streaming Act tells Canadians: “What you watch and listen to will always be up to you.” That should end the debate right there. Canadians will consume what they want, whatever the CRTC mandates. So why are we inflating the cost of streaming services to fund content that may well be ignored?The original five per cent requirement is already being challenged in court by U.S.-based streamers, including Apple, Amazon and Spotify. The Trump administration has taken direct exception to the Online Streaming Act, which has prominent billing on U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s list of trade irritants. The CRTC’s new decision will only inflame those concerns and increase pressure for Canada to back off this approach.CRTC vice-president of broadcasting Scott Shortliffe responded to such concerns by stressing the regulator is an arm’s-length quasi-judicial tribunal not in touch with the government about the status of trade negotiations — thus conceding that an unelected regulator has just tripled a streaming tax in the middle of a trade war, with zero accountability for what comes next.At a genuinely precarious moment in Canada’s trade history, and without a mandate from voters or parliamentary accountability or compelling evidence Canadians want more CanCon, the CRTC has just handed Washington a big new trade grievance, one that discriminates directly against American companies.The Online Streaming Act was always an expensive fix to a non-existent problem. The CRTC’s latest decision just triples the ante.David Clement is policy director at the Consumer Choice Center. 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