The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, N ov em be r 5, 20 20 | 14 DE RANGO PHARMACY INC 2501 Third Line | 905-465-3000 Open 24 hours | 7 Days a Week DE RANGO PHARMACY INC 478 Dundas Street West | 905-257-9737 Canada Post www.shoppersdrugmart.ca Fabio De Rango Pharmacist/Owner Voted Oakville's Favourite Pharmacist & Pharmacy • Patient Counselling • Complete Diabetic Care • Home Visits • Consultations • Free RX Delivery • Patient Counselling • Complete Diabetic Care • Home Visits • Pharmacogenetics • Free RX Delivery An Award Winning Oakville Pharmacy PLATINUMWINNER Pharmacist - Fabio De Rango Drug Store/ Pharmacy Open 24 hours | 7 Days a Week 1200 Speers Rd., Unit 12, Oakville, Ont. L6L 2X4 (905) 845 - 1408 | Fax (905) 845 - 5931 | ricky@rickywong.ca Ricky Wong CPA, CA, MBA, B. Eng Ricky Wong DIAMONDDIAMOND DIAMONDDIAMOND Voted Best Accountant by Oakville Beaver Readers for 11 Consecutive Years For more information please check our website www.rickywong.ca •Accounting •Auditing • Taxation News Media Canada, of which this publication is a member, is asking the Canadian government to implement new measures that would save media companies from being bled dry by tech gi- ants such as Google and Face- book. Google and Facebook control approximately 80 per cent of the digital advertising market in Canada, News Media Canada says. Advertising dollars are what keep traditional news organiza- tions running, but those monies are going to foreign-owned com- panies instead. Tech companies are able to present locally pro- duced news content on their own platforms and sell advertising around it, without compensation to the media company that pro- duced the articles. Furthermore, even when ad- vertisers pay specifically to ad- vertise on a news site, Google and Facebook keep most of that reve- nue, while at the same time gath- ering data on news media site readers and advertisers for their own purposes. This needs to change, News Media Canada says, and it could change if the federal government implements the Australian mod- el here. "Some of our readers and ad- vertisers do not realize that their local newspaper is also affected by the web giants. Our local con- tent can be picked up for use and consumed for free without any consideration of the efforts that went in to producing a story," said Kelly Montague, Torstar Vice President of Community Brands. "Local journalism is ex- pensive to produce. Local investi- gative journalism costs even more. And local journalism is so important to communities." The Australian model would allow publishers to collectively negotiate compensation from tech companies for the use of their content, a code of conduct would stop web monopolies from using new algorithms and other technologies to expand their mar- ket dominance, and web giants would be subject to fines in the millions of dollars for a single in- fraction. None of these actions would have a cost to the taxpayer. "Our local advertisers are re- ally surprised when we point out how the tech giants make money from our efforts and essentially take money out of local commu- nities," Montague said. "Google and Facebook swipe our content, place ads around it (ads that at one time appeared in our newspa- per) and make money off of our local stories. Many of our part- ners do not make an immediate connection, though understand once we explain and understand why we are upset." News Media Canada repre- sents more than 90 per cent of news media readership in Cana- da. Its membership includes Tor- star, Glacier Media, Black Press, Postmedia, the Globe and Mail, La Presse, Quebecor and Bruns- wick News. Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault said the gov- ernment recognizes the market imbalance between content cre- ators and those who benefit from its use, and that the government is committed to creating a com- prehensive and fairer digital reg- ulatory framework. "It is about fairness: those who benefit from the Canadian eco- system must also contribute to it, whether they operate in the broadcasting sector or are in- volved in news content sharing. "This means ensuring that our online environment does not un- duly disadvantage Canadian news publishers and allows them to continue to do their essential work which is to empower and in- form our communities, in times of crisis and beyond, for the bene- fit of our democracy," he said in an emailed statement. Guilbeault added the govern- ment is looking at other jurisdic- tions, including Australia and France, in discussions for a made-in-Canada framework. Local MPs appear to be in strong support of levelling the digital playing field. "A healthy news sector is cen- tral to our democracy. As out- lined in the recent Speech from the Throne, we intend to ensure that the revenue of online plat- forms is shared more fairly with Canadian creators and media," said Oakville MP Anita Anand. "Our government is currently looking into different options to support Canadian creators and media as part of our general com- mitment towards a comprehen- sive, more equitable digital regu- latory framework in Canada. It is about fairness. Those who bene- fit, directly or indirectly, from the Canadian news ecosystem must also contribute to it." Echoing those sentiments, Oakville North-Burlington MP Pam Damoff said, "Canadian news publishers play an essential role in empowering and inform- ing our communities. They de- serve fair compensation for their important work and our govern- ment is currently looking into a made-in-Canada solution to sup- port them. This is part of our gen- eral commitment towards a com- prehensive, more equitable digi- tal regulatory framework in Can- ada." NEWS LEVELLING THE DIGITAL PLAYING FIELD MEDIA ASK FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S HELP FROM TECH GIANTS Torstar is among the national news organizations seeking government assistance against tech giants. Torstar graphic