Canadian Heritage committee  It's really challenging, because when you spread this out over all the communities in Alberta.... There are many small communities, and it's an expensive issue. I don't know if there's any one particular thing. You know, we talk about the LJI. We talk about things like the aid to publishers that have helped over time.

Canadian Heritage committee  I guess I'm not terribly clear on what you mean by the 30% going to the majors. I think we have all seen, no matter what size of operation, that—

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, absolutely. I don't have the numbers sitting right in front of me, but it's well documented that the federal government has moved a tremendous amount of its advertising spending into major online platforms and away from local newspapers.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know if that would be the case for everybody. It would certainly be helpful. It's something that we have advocated for over time, both at the federal and the provincial level: trying to get more government advertising into local papers. They're a very effective means of reaching the local communities.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, we have done a lot of research over the years that would confirm that—that the local Canadian newspapers are well trusted and people look to them first for information. As I said in my opening statement, those are often the only operations providing local news.

Canadian Heritage committee  I guess it depends on what you mean by “legacy”. It seems to be kind of an opaque term, because we get termed as “legacy”, our papers that have been operating since the early 1900s. What is legacy? Is that an issue that some people have with larger outlets? I think, in fairness, everybody wants to try to do a good job of journalism in their communities, but most really lack the resources to do that properly anymore.

Canadian Heritage committee  Of course, many of them are wearing multiple hats. Whether they are full-time journalists or not, many people in small operations, even in mid-size operations, wear many hats every day. There have been thoughts around whether the LJI program could be supplemented to help bring those operations up to two-person newsrooms.

Canadian Heritage committee  Our family is involved in Great West Media. That originally came out of the St. Albert Gazette, which is our flagship newspaper. My grandparents purchased the Gazette in the late 1960s. Then, through the 1980s and 1990s, we acquired other papers across the province, mostly in rural areas throughout Alberta.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm sorry. It is really difficult as to how you get below that two-journalist threshold. We understand the difficulties of how you keep some limitations on a program so that you are trying to deal with quality news operations. I don't know if we have a good answer on how you actually deal with really small operators under a Bill C-18 type of scenario, other than using these other programs that have been in existence and that have helped these operations survive.

Canadian Heritage committee  We should also consider other mechanisms—perhaps a tax on digital advertising sold in the Canadian market, which would be redistributed to Canadian news outlets. Advertising has long supported journalism. We fundamentally believe that quality news coverage, however it is served, is vitally important to all communities, and we encourage the federal government to work on ways to support our industry in a time of great need.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for giving us the opportunity to appear before the committee today. I'm Evan Jamison, the president of the Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association. I'm the third generation of my family in the newspaper business, and also the third generation to sit as the president of our provincial newspaper association.