Creative industry slams government on move to dismantle CanCon obligations for streamers

TORONTO – Groups representing writers and filmmakers are criticizing the government’s move to dismantle Canadian content obligations for U.S.-based streamers.

The Directors Guild of Canada, ACTRA and the Canadian Media Producers Association issued statements saying the government is cowering to pressure from Big Tech, and that it risks creating “long-term uncertainty” for the Canadian film and TV industry.

On Wednesday, Culture Minister Marc Miller announced that Ottawa is asking the broadcast regulator to review a recent order that would require foreign streamers to invest 15 per cent of their revenues in Canada into Canadian programming.

Miller also said that the entire broadcasting framework needs a rethink, and that the government will invest $600 million into the audio and audiovisual sector annually in the meantime.

The government suggested that ordering the streamers to increase their investment into Canadian content would have raised prices for Canadian viewers who want to subscribe to their services.

ACTRA, a union that represents actors, said it was “shocked” by the move, arguing it was letting “billionaire streamers off the hook” and billing taxpayers instead.

“Rather than requiring wealthy media companies to modestly invest in Canada’s cultural ecosystem, Ottawa has chosen to transfer that responsibility to Canadian taxpayers under the guise of ‘consumer protection,'” said Eleanor Noble, national president of ACTRA.

The Motion Picture Association, the U.S. group representing streamers, had previously stated that the cost of doing business in Canada would triple if the May mandate was enforced. They called on the government to reconsider.

When asked about the move on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney framed the decision as an affordability issue.

“This is not the time to raise costs for Canadians,” he said. “The CRTC, obviously we disagree with the — or … we take issue with the impact of the decision.”

On May 21, the CRTC implemented new rules as part of the Online Streaming Act that said large online streaming services like Netflix must contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content — three times the five per cent initial contribution requirement the CRTC set out in 2024, which itself is being challenged in court by major streamers, including Apple and Amazon.

Alistair Hepburn, national executive director of the Directors Guild of Canada, said he doesn’t buy the government’s affordability argument. He said the $600 million in government funding shifts the financial burden off the streamers and onto the Canadian public.

“Is taxpayer funding an absolute substitute for a sustainable framework that requires all the participants in the marketplace to contribute?” he said. “Because that feels like two very different policy approaches.”

On Wednesday, after the government announced it was directing the CRTC to review the change, the Motion Picture Association said it was “encouraged by the government’s commitment to new policy directions.”

The group did not respond to a question about whether they would commit to a price freeze, given the government’s comments about affordability for consumers.

The CRTC said in an email Thursday it will review any new policy directions regarding the Online Streaming Act from the government as they are released.

The Canadian Media Producers Association, a national advocacy body for independent media producers, dismissed the suggestion that giving the streamers a break would lead to affordability for Canadians, noting that the streamers have consistently raised their prices since entering this market.

“We’re concerned that a few years from now we’ll look back on yesterday’s announcement as the beginning of the unravelling of the Canadian production industry and of Canadian content,” said Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the CMPA.

He said the CRTC’s role of ensuring companies devote resources to Canadian content is crucial to our media ecosystem.

“If we eliminate that core pillar, it imperils the entire system, and it imperils the ability of producers — Canadian producers and creators — to tell Canadian stories, period, full stop,” Mastin said on a video call.

Noble, the ACTRA president, also did not believe it would benefit Canadian consumers.

“It appeases American corporate interests. Our industry was assured that culture would not be a bargaining chip in North American free trade negotiations, but this decision proves differently,” Noble said.

Ann Shin, CEO of Fathom, a Toronto-based production company, said it had made “common sense” to implement the 15 per cent contributions on streamers.

Shin is currently working with Prime Video for the release of the true-crime docuseries “The Pig Farm Killer: Robert Pickton.”

“There’s a lot of productions that streamers are already investing in: think of ‘North of North’ … So just adding a regulation that sets out a goal of like, how much to invest I think is entirely reasonable,” Shin said in an interview from Toronto.

She pointed to France, which requires 20 per cent to be invested into local French and European productions.

“France is showing that having streamers invest in local content as well as benefit from their tax benefits and funding structures has become as profitable for the production industry in France as well for the streamers,” Shin said.

In an emailed statement Thursday, Miller’s press secretary said the government is working to protect Canada’s cultural sector.

“That is why last year’s budget delivered historic investments in culture, and why we are providing additional relief now as we modernize the financial framework of the audiovisual system,” Hermine Landry wrote.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2026.