Perth-Wellington MP John Nater says a recent report that hundreds of Canadian local broadcasting companies could close within 3 years is extremely troubling.
Nater says local communities just like those in Perth-Wellington need local broadcasting and journalism outlets to keep them directly informed.
"Loss of our local ability to tell our stories would be devastating to our communities. Our local radio stations, papers and TV stations are able to tell our stories, tell the news, give information to people in times of emergency, they're there as a lifeline to people in so many communities, and they bring us together."
Nater says that right now there can be more done in the short term at the federal level to help struggling broadcasters hit hard by COVID-19.
"Short term we have to make sure that the programs that are available right now, whether it's the wage subsidy or the business loans, are able to be transitioned for unique situations of broadcasters. We've found in some areas, they haven't been able to access those benefits."
In the long term, Nater says the government can do more to look at how they can potentially help with massive losses in advertising revenues for broadcasters, with many small businesses also hit hard by COVID-19 with no ad dollars to use.
"In the long, long term, we need to make sure there is a full review of the CRTC rules regarding broadcasters and make sure it's as clear and as streamlined as possible so we're not asking small broadcasters to pay more to deal with regulatory challenges that the CRTC puts in front of them."
Local media, Nater adds, is integral to communities across the country, and the loss of that would have long lasting negative effects.
