Keeping Canada s Newspapers Canadian Owned

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30916, 24 November 1965, Page 18

Keeping Canada s Newspapers Canadian Owned

[From MELVIN SUFRIN. special corretpondent-N.Z.PAJ TORONTO. Controversial legislation designed to keep Canada’s newspapers Canadian-owned continues under wide-ranging attack, but the Government shows no inclination to change it.

The law, due to come into effect January 1, discourages foreign take-overs by making it unprofitable for advertisers to buy space in Canadian dailies that are not at least 75 per cent Canadian-owned. Anyone advertising in a newspaper more than 25 per cent foreign-owned would be prohibited from deducting the advertising cost as a business expense for tax purposes. This is bound to be an

effective deterrent because, witt Canada’s nearly 20,000,000 people spread over so vast an area, no newspaper has anything like a large enough circulation to exist without substantial advertising. And few, if any firms, would advertise if they could not deduct the cost from their taxable earnings. The publishers of Canada's 100 daily newspapers are almost unanimously opposed »o the law, which was passed by a healthy margin (102 to 78) in Parliament last June. The view most often expressed was that once having legislated in this area Parliament might one day see its way to curb press freedom in more serious ways. Some Support A few have supported the law, notably the “Toronto Star,” the country’s biggest newspaper with a circulation of 356,000, which insists freedom of the press is not involved at all. In recent months such international bodies as the Commonwealth Press Union, the International Press Institute and the Inter-American Press Association have joined the attack. One line is that the law constitutes an economic pressure incompatible with press freedom. Among the strongest opponents of the law is Lord Thomson, the Canadian-born publisher who owns more than 100 newspapers throughout the world. He calls it "a violation of the universal declaration of human rights” and says it has hampered his efforts to foster the North American idea of press freedom in the world at large. Lord Thomson, who had to surrender his Canadian citizenship to accept a British perage because Canadian law bans titles, owns 27 dailies in Canada, the base from which he set out to build his huge publishing empire. Not Affect Position He says the Canadian legislation will not affect his position in the publishing field in this country, presumably because ownership is or will be vested in his son. Kenneth, still a Canadian. The Canadian regulations differ from New Zealand’s approach in that they do not simply prohibit foreign ownership. The reason is that under the Canadian Constitution property rights are a responsibility of the provinces and this prevents the Federal Government from legislating in this field. The Government of Lester Pearson could, of course, have asked each of the 10 provinces to pass legislation similar to New Zealand's. But it is unlikely all would have agreed and even one loophole might have destroyed the effectiveness of the curbs.

One publisher has suggested Canadian ownership of publications should be ensured by a change in the Constitution, but here again provincial approval is needed and the chances of getting it are slim, especially since one of the biggest provinces, Quebec, is jealous of its Constitutional prerogatives. Walter Gordon, who resigned a few days ago as Minister of Finance, piloted the legislation through Parliament and insisted it constituted no danger to press freedom. No Precedent

“It provides no precedent for any kind of Government interference in the complete freedom of the press,” Mr Gordon said. “The proposal does make it highly unlikely, however, that the ownership of Canadian newspapers will be transferred to foreigners.” John Diefenbaker, Opposition Leader in the House of Commons, did not agree. ‘This is the thin edge of the wedge,” he said. Tt won’t be long before radio and television are also affected. It purports to protect Canadian newspapers from passing to

foreign ownership but I believe it is broader, deeper and more radical.” Mr Gordon said the Government would entertain suggestions for changes in the law. providing they would not interfere with its effectiveness, but so far there have not been any concrete alternatives proposed. The only daily that might have been affected by the legislation is the "Red Deer Advocate,” a small newspaper in Alberta which is British-owned, but it has been exempted along with several weeklies.

Actually, there is relatively little opposition in Canada to the premise that newspapers should remain under Canadian control. American television programmes and American magazines have already made a deep penetration into Canada and the average person is inclined to see value in keeping the press Canadian. But how to do it is the issue.

Although the Thomson Interests control more than a quarter of all Canadian dailies, there has never been any suggestion that Lord ■Thomson holds too much influence in the publishing field in Canada. This may bo because all his papers are in relatively small cities and their total circulation is but a tiny portion of the national total. Monopoly Ownership Last year the Federal Government’s Restrictive Trade Practices Commission looked into the monopoly ownership by the Thomson dailies of the only two new’psapers in the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William at the head of Lake Superior in northwestern Ontario. But it concluded that no publishers were found to enjoy complete autonomy in controlling editorial content public harm had resulted. For, as in other Thomson papers in Canada, the local of their respective papers.