A report released by the Public Policy Forum (PPF) in partnership with the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) and the Michener Awards Foundation (MAF) highlights the critical state of local news in Canada and proposes urgent recommendations to revitalize a key industry that plays an outsized role in Canadian democracy.
The report, titled The Lost Estate: How to put the local back in local news, is supported by exclusive new Ipsos polling of Canadians living in smaller communities and cites a concerning decline in local news outlets, with repercussions that include increased alienation, a decline in trust and a negative impact on local businesses.
According to Toronto Metropolitan University’s Local News Research Project, Canada has lost 252 net local news outlets across Canada since 2008, including 24 net closures over the last two years alone. The report emphasizes the importance of enabling local ownership to help rebuild this critical industry at the community level.
An Ipsos poll, conducted in January 2025 and commissioned as part of the report, found that 87 percent of Canadians believe local news is important to a well-functioning democracy, and they trust local newspapers and radio (85 percent) over national newspapers (71 percent) and international online news sites (55 percent). The poll was unusual in its focus on Canadians living in smaller communities — of 1,001 Canadians polled, about half were in communities with populations of less than 10,000, and half were in communities with populations of between 10,000 and 100,000.
The report’s recommendations included:
* Drive local advertising with a tax cut: Along the same lines, local advertisers should receive a tax credit for spending their ad dollars with independent, locally owned media. As advertising dollars continue to flow to foreign-owned digital sites, depriving local media of funds they need, a tax credit would give advertisers a greater incentive to vote local while leaving the decision about which outlets get support to them, not government. Equitable tax credits for advertisers have the additional benefit of being more likely to withstand shifts in the political winds. That said, local advertising only helps if Main Street can withstand the competition from distant digital retailers, which presents a different set of challenges.
* Direct government ad dollars to local news: Governments should earmark a portion of their substantial advertising budgets to local publishers and broadcasters. Ontario is showing the way by requiring that 25 percent of government ad budgets, including spending by four large provincial agencies, be directed to “Ontario-based publishers.” This program, which went into effect in September 2024, is explicitly aimed at “helping to support these publishers and their workers, who are creating local news content for people across the province.”
Brought in by a Conservative government, it could be worth some $50 million a year to Ontario publishers. The federal government, other provinces and territories, and municipalities should follow suit. Governments are already spending substantial amounts on advertising and marketing. It makes no sense for them to talk about the need for vibrant local democracy and a healthy local news environment while they continue to funnel their own ad dollars to foreign-owned social media sites.
(News Media Canada)