In a boon to the beleaguered journalism industry, the Ontario provincial government directed the four largest crown corporations to allocate a minimum of 25% of their ad spend toward Ontario publishers.

The four crown corporations affected by the province’s decision are the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), Metrolinx, and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG).

“These government agencies are some of the largest advertisers in the province, together spending well over $100 million on marketing each year,” Ontario premier Doug Ford wrote in a memo on Wednesday.

“By ensuring that a minimum of 25% of their advertising budgets are reserved for Ontario-based publishers, the government is helping to support these publishers and their workers, who are creating local news content for people across the province.”

The province has also committed the same allotment of its own ad spend to Ontario publishers. The government is defining Ontario-based publishers as corporations, trusts or partnerships that have been designated as Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations by the Canada Revenue Agency.

The mandate will go into effect in September 2024. The government said it will review this initiative on a quarterly basis.

Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, was quick to praise the decision. “Unifor has always maintained that Canada’s media sector requires a variety of sources of funding, and this is one important piece of that puzzle. The federal government has taken steps to provide relief and it’s encouraging to see Ontario step up to the plate by putting tax dollars to work,” the union said in a statement.

Canadian Media Directors’ Council (CMDC) president Shannon Lewis tells Media in Canada the CMDC Manifesto’s call for investment into local media has been gaining traction. “We are thrilled to see the Ontario government take that step,” Lewis says. “This commitment and investment will not only support the sustainability of our local media outlets, but also boost our talent, fuel economic growth, and ultimately contribute to building a stronger Canada.”

“By supporting our journalists, creators, and publishers, we are investing in the fabric of our society and amplifying the diverse stories that make up Canada,” Lewis adds.

“This is an incredible step in the right direction,” adds Carat Canada chief client officer Jennifer Lewis. “Commitments and investments like this in local news and communities help ensure that more voices and perspectives are brought to the table and shared.”

While also praising this as a positive step, Scott Stewart, general manager and business leader, at Glassroom, looked beyond Ontario. “We have the future of the entire Canadian media ecosystem to be mindful of. Having learned the hard lesson of the overreliance on US tech to distribute our news and content for far too long, this is a good lifeline to local publishing in Ontario and hopefully more organizations outside of agency land can use this as inspiration, and actively enter this conversationn, and more importantly, be part of it.”

“Canadian consumers need Canadian media and while agencies are in place to service the needs of their clients, more Canadian advertisers need to advocate, support and ultimately create similar mandates which would ultimately be the best case scenario to come out of this announcement,” he adds. “Because the challenge ahead goes well beyond signing a pledge or creating a spend ‘proxy’ of 25%.”

With files from Andrea Hernandez and Patti Summerfield