SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Member of Parliament

John Barlow

  • Member of Parliament
  • Member of Parliament
  • Conservative
  • Foothills
  • Alberta
  • Voting Attendance: 65%
  • Expenses Last Quarter: $161,345.02

  • Government Page
Context: House Hansard - 217 - Jun/20/23
Mr. John Barlow (Foothills, CPC)
  • Jun/20/23 1:45:40 p.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-18 
Madam Speaker, I worked for community newspapers for more than 20 years. I believe the member is misleading Canadians when he said that this is somehow going to be a salvation for community news, as the vast majority of papers will not see a dime of this money because 70% goes to Rogers, Bell and large tech companies. The small community papers in our rural ridings with one journalist do not even qualify for this program. I will tell the member this. The three things that really impacted community journalism and those community papers were the costs of using Canada Post and accessing the Internet; the CBC, which undercuts the advertising ability of small and medium outlets because they cannot compete with a subsidized giant like it; and the government withdrawing all of its advertising dollars from those small community papers that relied on those advertisements. If the member thinks community journalism and community papers are so important and the heartbeat of our communities, how much money is the government spending on community papers through federal advertising dollars?
178 words
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Context: House Hansard - 147 - Dec/13/22
Mr. John Barlow (Foothills, CPC)
  • Dec/13/22 5:28:55 p.m.
  • Watch
  • Re: Bill C-18 
Madam Speaker, as a proud journalist for almost 25 years and having worked for Charles Clark newspaper in High River, I would say that journalists face, much like politicians nowadays, a lack of public trust. We saw that with the Liberal bailout of the media several years ago, and I know many of my constituents are questioning the integrity of journalists. When there are government subsidies or government bailouts of the free press, what impact is that having on community trust when it comes to Canadian journalism?
87 words
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