Help us advocate for you. Please follow, share and like our content.
The federal government continues to spend heavily on subsidies for for-profit media companies, even as Canadians endure some of the longest healthcare wait times in the developed world. The contrast is striking, and a recent local example brings the issue home.
In a July editorial, a local newspaper disclosed that it received $13,000 in 2024 and again in 2025 from Heritage Canada’s Aid to Publishers program1. At first glance, this might seem like modest support for a small-town paper. But the local newspaper’s owners are professors at York University and Queen’s University—securely on the Ontario Sunshine List with six-figure, taxpayer-funded salaries- a whopping $375,046.71 in 2024 ($178,724.22 and $196,322.49).
So while the government defends subsidies as a way to keep local journalism alive, in this case the funds are going to a private for-profit company owned by individuals already among the most secure in society.
Is This Pay-to-Play?
Nobody is accusing the local newspaper or its owners of wrongdoing. They were eligible, they applied, and they disclosed the funding openly. But critics warn that subsidies risk creating dependence. When a newspaper’s financial survival relies in part on federal cheques, does it blunt their appetite to scrutinize government decisions? Even the appearance of “pay-to-play” undermines public trust in media independence. And when beneficiaries are also public academics, drawing salaries from government-funded universities, the optics get even murkier.
Media Subsidies in Context
Ottawa has directed more than $600 million toward media bailouts since 2019, through programs like the Local Journalism Initiative, payroll rebates, pandemic relief, and the longstanding Aid to Publishers program. The goal has been to help community outlets survive as advertising revenue migrates to platforms like Google and Meta.
The pace of subsidy expansion is striking. A recent report estimated the federal government will spend $325 million in 2024–25 between the Canada Media Fund ($154.1 million), the Canada Periodical Fund ($86.5 million), the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit ($65 million), and the Local Journalism Initiative ($19.6 million). This is on top of the roughly $1.4 billion annual subsidy to the CBC, which is set to increase by another $150 million. Adding to this, just weeks before the federal election was called earlier this year, the Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC) began distributing $100 million from Google to news organizations, as mandated by the Online News Act. That funding is layered on top of the millions already allocated by Ottawa.
Yet the results have been uneven. Large chains continue to cut newsroom staff even while pocketing subsidies. Smaller outlets sometimes receive only modest grants, but ownership structures reveal cases where recipients hardly appear to need public assistance.
The Gazette’s disclosure of its own grant matters precisely for this reason: subsidies designed to “preserve democracy” can end up looking less like a lifeline for local journalism and more like corporate welfare for individuals and organizations already supported by public dollars elsewhere.
Meanwhile, in the Emergency Room
While Ottawa underwrites media owners, Ontario patients sit in crowded hospital corridors. According to Health Quality Ontario, the median time from registration to leaving an emergency department is now 4.4 hours in the East Health Region, which includes Oshawa and Durham2.
At Lakeridge Health’s Oshawa site, the wait just to be initially assessed by a physician averages 1.7 hours3.
For many patients, the total time in the ED stretches to eight hours or more, depending on urgency.
Diagnostic backlogs are just as grim. Ontario Health data show patients often wait 90 to 120 days for an MRI and even longer for elective surgeries such as hip and knee replacements4.
The contrast could not be clearer: families wait months for care, while professors earning over $100,000 annually receive additional cheques to support their side business.
Rethinking Priorities
None of this is to deny the importance of local journalism. A healthy democracy requires strong, independent reporting—especially in small communities. But support should be structured to serve readers, not to enrich those already secure.
If Ottawa wants to sustain journalism, it could:
- Prioritize funding for outlets that are community-owned, non-profit, or co-operative.
- Tie grants to measurable outcomes, such as increased civic reporting or investigative coverage.
- Deliver funding through truly arms-length agencies to avoid political entanglements.
- Most importantly, government should balance media funding against urgent needs elsewhere.
When ER wait times average nearly five hours and surgery wait lists stretch for months, many Canadians understandably question whether media subsidies are the best use of scarce tax dollars.
A Question of Fairness
The case is about more than one local newspaper. It illustrates how a national policy designed to protect democracy can end up reinforcing inequity. When taxpayers see professors on the Sunshine List also drawing media subsidies, while their own families wait months for care, faith in public priorities erodes. Canadians want strong healthcare and strong journalism. But they also want fairness. Until subsidies are distributed in ways that clearly serve communities rather than the already privileged, they will continue to look less like democracy in action and more like corporate welfare dressed up in press credentials.
Footnotes
- Picton Gazette, Editorial “County Fake,” July 16, 2024. https://www.pictongazette.ca/post/county-fake
- Health Quality Ontario, Time Spent in Emergency Departments (2024). https://www.hqontario.ca/system-performance/time-spent-in-emergency-departments
- Health Quality Ontario, Hospital ED Wait Time by Site – Lakeridge Health Oshawa (2024).
- Ontario Health, Wait Times for Diagnostic Imaging and Surgeries (2024). https://www.ontariohealth.ca/system/reporting/wait-times.html