00:00:00.000Hey guys, Wyatt Claypool here, and welcome back to the National Telegraph YouTube channel.
00:00:06.100I don't know how many more times this exact same scenario is going to play itself out
00:00:11.720until Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals learn a lesson,
00:00:15.700because I feel like I'm living through Groundhog's Day right now.
00:00:19.760The Liberals, multiple times now, have tried to either implement a new tax
00:00:24.640or hike an existing tax that mainly only affects American companies,
00:00:29.440the American government obviously protests the decision, the liberals act defiant in the face
00:00:35.080of protests, and then they suddenly reverse themselves last minute anyways and pretend
00:00:39.900it totally wasn't a concession to U.S. President Donald Trump. I'm going to take you guys through
00:00:45.960what happened here in just a second, but this whole streaming tax thing I actually believe
00:00:50.960is going to hurt the liberals in the polls because this thing was so obvious. It was so
00:00:56.660out in the open that I don't even think the elbows-up liberals can avoid just how weak Mark
00:01:02.000Carney looks in the face of Donald Trump. But before I get into it, I just want to remind you
00:01:07.300guys, if you like the channel, make sure to leave a like on the video, subscribe if you are not yet
00:01:11.940a subscriber, and if you want to help the channel be less reliant on the YouTube algorithm, consider
00:01:17.400hitting the join button below the video and becoming a monthly contributing channel member.
00:01:22.120But anyways, let's get into this. Again, I feel like I've talked about this story multiple times before, and it is because this story has played out multiple times before, both this year and last year.
00:01:35.640This is from the Western Standard. This morning, they say, breaking news, Prime Minister Mark Carney is reversing his decision to charge streamers and content producers in Canada a fee that would go towards, quote, producing Canadian content, unquote.
00:01:49.660So, this is the statement on the government website. It reads,
00:01:54.440Government of Canada announces immediate support to strengthen Canadian culture and ensure Canadian content remains affordable.
00:02:01.000Now, you'll notice that's a very weaselly headline on the government website because, in fact, they are actually reversing a support measure for Canadian content by reversing plans to triple the streaming tax from 5% to 15%.
00:02:19.760Now, I don't support the streaming tax. I think the whole thing is stupid. Subsidizing bad Canadian content doesn't make it better. It just means you get more bad content from places like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, APTN, Global News, and the other taxpayer money-getting legacy media companies.
00:02:39.940the thing here though is that the government's basically trying to pretend it's doing both at
00:02:46.740the same time it's saving you money by canceling the tax which yes they are technically saving
00:02:52.860people money by not tripling the tax but they're not they're not supporting Canadian content by
00:02:58.840doing this because previously they said they were supporting Canadian content by tripling it
00:03:03.760now that they're not doing it somehow they're both supporting Canadian content
00:03:07.220and saving people money. They're talking out of both sides of their mouths. And this is extremely
00:03:13.260funny when you realize that they had just voted in favor of implementing this tax hike a few days
00:03:19.900ago. Here we have Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lansman in the House of Commons just a
00:03:26.460few days ago arguing in favor of the Conservative motion to get rid of the streaming tax hike,
00:03:33.580to not raise it from five to 15 percent one important news flash that i think canadians
00:03:39.100ought to know is the message is this get ready for another liberal tax that's it the government
00:03:45.660has already taxed your gas and they've taxed your groceries and they've taxed your capital
00:03:49.100games and god knows they've taxed your income and now they're coming for your netflix that's
00:03:54.300really what today's about the liberal appointed crtc an unelected unaccountable body which
00:04:00.380regulates streaming services and digital content in this country just mandated the companies like
00:04:06.620netflix like disney plus like prime video fork over 15 of revenues to ottawa and that's a 200
00:04:14.860increase from where they were so if you're watching at home let's put just a number on this
00:04:21.100and what it means for family so netflix earns netflix alone earns about 1.5 billion dollars
00:04:25.900annually from canadian subscribers 15 of that is 225 um million and then passed on to consumers
00:04:35.740that'll be potentially three or four bucks every single month um per household on top of everything
00:04:42.220else the canadians pay and that might not sound like a lot of money but that's exactly where that
00:04:46.860tax that ottawa's collecting is going to go although that actually is quite a bit and uh
00:04:52.620because it's most people have like one, two or three streaming services. So that's like three
00:04:57.980or four dollars compounded three times. So $12 extra per month, every month of the year. And
00:05:04.980you could say, well, it's only $12 a month, you can't afford $12 a month. Like, well, not really,
00:05:10.060when everything else has been going up in price as well. It's kind of a big deal for people who
00:05:15.200are already having trouble making ends meet. But this argument was not persuasive to the liberals.
00:05:21.820And that is why they voted down the conservative motion to scrap the tripling of the streaming tax.
00:05:30.660They say Commons votes 193 to 134 in favor of tripling charges on video streaming services like Netflix to 15% of Canadian revenues.
00:05:41.520And I just need to stop there and mention that 15% is insane because I believe that's on top of their corporate taxes.
00:05:50.700maybe they don't pay corporate taxes, but that's still just an absurd amount of money to be paying
00:05:56.760or to be charging a corporation that kind of barely operates in Canada. It's not like they're
00:06:03.600using our electricity grid or anything like that. It's a service in America that you can access in
00:06:09.700Canada. And they're saying, if any Canadians accessing it, you owe us 15%, possibly on top
00:06:14.960of your corporate taxes and the sales taxes and all that other stuff. It's just gouging them in
00:06:21.720order to subsidize the CBC. But of course, we now know that Carney has reversed it after he
00:06:29.320and the rest of the liberal MPs voted in favor of tripling it. The conservatives put a motion to
00:06:36.160them to get them on the record at their position. They said, no, screw you guys, we're going to
00:06:40.820triple it anyways, no matter what your protests are. They tried to frame it as like, oh, my
00:06:45.760goodness, the conservatives are in favor of Trump's America not having to pay the streaming tax.
00:06:52.140And then they reverse themselves anyways. Like, come on, guys. And then, of course,
00:06:56.760Mark Carney was chased down in the hallway and reporters asked him this doesn't quite this clip
00:07:02.660doesn't quite get the question in. But reporters asked him, are you making a big concession?
00:07:06.980Because Dominic LeBlanc, your trade representative for U.S. trade, just went down to Washington, and now suddenly the tax is being reversed, and this is a tax that the American government had been protesting heavily.
00:07:20.000I now wonder if Bill C-22, the one that forces companies to give over your internet records, your data to the government, if that one's also now going to be reversed, because that's another one that the Americans have been protesting.
00:07:33.480But Carney, after being asked if the reversal has anything to do with American pressure, just starts talking about how Canadians, you know, deserve to save money.
00:07:43.480It is another step to reinforce affordability for Canadians.
00:07:47.700This is not the time to raise the cost for Canadians.
00:07:51.620When the CRTC takes decisions, as they did last summer, with respect to telecom and telecom sharing on broadband, which helped to lower costs for Canadians,
00:08:49.100tripling the tax, but obviously they are still in favor of it. And this is really bad news for
00:08:54.200Mark Carney, because he has Stephen Guilbeault leaving this summer. He represents a Montreal
00:08:59.840riding that although Montreal is very liberal, his riding is actually very NDP and block two.
00:09:05.740It's one of the few very divided ridings. A lot of the liberal ridings, they win with like 60%
00:09:11.080of the vote. Stephen Kilbeau won with a very healthy margin in this last election, but in
00:09:16.560the previous election, and that was his re-election, that was his first re-election in 2021 or his
00:09:21.680second one, he only won with like 37% of the vote. He's leaving slagging the liberals saying they're
00:09:27.700not doing good enough on the environment, which is a message that hurts the Liberals in that
00:09:31.880Montreal riding. At the same time, the Liberals are saying that if Quebec voted to separate and
00:09:38.700they had a majority, Mark Carney might not recognize it. And now he's reversing himself
00:09:44.840for Donald Trump on the streaming tax hike, which does not play very well in Quebec,
00:09:50.660where, of course, they rely heavily on media subsidies for their content.
00:09:55.580Mr. Speaker, another betrayal of Quebec culture. On day two of Kuzma negotiations, the government is already asking the CRTC to abandon the 15% increase in royalties required of major online streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus and Prime.
00:10:15.920After abandoning the digital services tax, Ottawa is once again sacrificing funding for cultural creation
00:10:22.880by allowing digital giants to avoid paying their fair share.
00:10:38.260Mr. Speaker, the government is starting by defending everyday Canadians.
00:10:45.280we are focused on affordability this is a decision focused on affordability for families
00:10:54.260in Quebec and families across Canada at the same time we are investing 600 million dollars more
00:11:02.580in Canadian culture and in Quebec culture except that's not that's a crap excuse yes they are
00:11:11.400canceling the tax hike, but they're still going to spend another $600 million just artificially
00:11:17.160boosting Canadian content. The problem is that the typical voter in Montreal would rather strike at
00:11:24.100the Americans with the tax than just get more money. That's the problem. And anyone who's more
00:11:29.740on the fiscal side of the Liberal Party, you know, the business liberals, they're not happy to see
00:11:35.200that the government's going to spend another $600 million out of nowhere to basically make
00:11:41.360up for the lost revenues of this tax hike, and that they're spending on something completely
00:11:47.120frivolous. Again, this is a perfect storm. Conservatives look right about trying to
00:11:51.960save Canadians money with the Liberals having to reverse themselves and use the exact argument
00:11:57.080that they previously rejected. The Liberals are looking bad in front of Quebec voters by
00:12:02.480basically letting the Americans off of this tax and looking weak in front of Donald Trump.
00:12:06.900basically wall-to-wall. It's bad for Carney. Looks weak in front of Trump. He should have
00:12:12.460never implemented the tax in the first place because it's bad for Canadians and bad for
00:12:15.700trade negotiations. He looks unpatriotic in front of Canadian elbows-up voters. And Quebec voters
00:12:22.720are particularly mad because they're super anti-American. And this was effectively them
00:12:29.380surrendering to Trump and being unwilling to make the American companies pay for Quebec content.
00:12:36.900The Honourable Member for Belle Chambly.
00:12:39.560Well, Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister had already abandoned the digital services tax
00:12:44.600with no concession from Washington, not a single thing.
00:12:49.540In doing so, he deprived the cultural sector of $1.4 billion a year.
00:12:53.080Today, he's asking the CRTC to back down on the 15%
00:12:57.040that would have been taxed on major online streaming platforms.
00:13:01.000So that's $2 billion that would come from the United States.
00:13:06.140He's depriving the cultural sector of billions of dollars, which he claims he can compensate with $600 million taken from taxpayers' pockets.
00:13:13.600How can the prime minister justify that everyone is losing except for the American web giants?
00:13:20.380And again, it's such a Quebec nationalistic and socialistic argument because these taxes, the digital services tax, which is, again, another one of those things where Carney was going to implement it.
00:13:34.100And he doesn't care if Trump likes it or not.
00:13:35.880And then he runs away at the last moment.
00:13:37.600Same thing with this streaming tax hike.
00:13:57.600What, are they just going to go out of business for fun?
00:13:59.740They're just going to operate in Canada at a loss for fun?
00:14:02.720obviously not and so but but but the blocks see it as somehow they're taking something away
00:14:09.240from american companies to support canadian content and that mark carney is like letting
00:14:15.480the americans off without a punishment for the like nasty deed of providing streaming services
00:14:20.800in canada that i'm sorry no canadian company is after offering other than cbc gem and goodness
00:14:27.140don't watch it i don't know what to say if you watch it you will become stupider uh there's no
00:14:34.080good streaming services in canada and we're going to tax the ones being provided into canada because
00:14:39.160they're like dirty and american somehow but you can see the very awkward position that carney is
00:14:43.780in and you can tell by his response he's dumping money on the problem he's having to agree with
00:14:49.320the conservatives arguments in favor or against the tax now even though he previously voted in
00:14:54.580favor of it and he looks absolutely pathetic when it comes to his progress on trade. Honorable
00:15:00.500Prime Minister, Mr. Speaker, I have news for the member for Belle Chambly. Who pays for that tax
00:15:11.240on streamers? Well, everyday people. Oh my goodness, he sounds like pure poly of. He previously
00:15:16.800voted against this argument that Melissa Lantzman was just making. With increased streaming costs,
00:15:22.860That's the truth. So we have chosen, we have chosen that we are going to focus on affordability to make sure that the cultural sector is supported and to focus on affordability for everyone.
00:15:41.200The Honourable Member for Belle Chambly, he is letting $3.4 billion a year from the United States go away, and he's taking $600 million out of taxpayers' pockets.
00:15:54.100By asking the CRTC to cancel the 15%, the Prime Minister is doing worse than capitulating.
00:15:59.800He's validating the Americans' claim that Quebec's culture and the French language are a barrier to trade.
00:16:06.640And by replacing those royalties with public funds, he's validating the Conservatives' criticism by making taxpayers foot the bill for the web giants.
00:16:18.640Now I'm going to end it here because we don't need to see here any more of this interchange.
00:16:21.980I just want to remind you guys of what the Laurier-Saint-Marie riding that Stephen Guilbeault represents currently looks like in terms of votes.
00:16:31.440This is a vulnerable riding in a by-election.
00:16:34.120because in a certain sense, Stephen Gilbeau was able to win it in the last election by such a
00:16:40.220large margin, not only because the NDP effectively collapsed, as well as it was just a very
00:16:45.600nationalistic election in favor of Cannes against the United States, but also Stephen Gilbeau is
00:16:51.560left-wing enough that he's able to eat up a lot of NDP and block votes. I don't think Stephen
00:16:57.780Gilbeau is exactly a separatist, but he's very much a Quebec nationalist, so he appeals to that
00:17:02.940sort of Bloc Quebec voter. That's why the Bloc Quebec fell down. And he's so left-wing on the
00:17:07.400environment, naturally a lot of New Democrats are very comfortable voting for him. So in 2025,
00:17:12.160he won with 52% of the vote, what you would consider a safe liberal seat. But if we scroll
00:17:17.360down to 2021, Stephen Gilbeau won with 37% of the vote to the New Democrats, 32%, and the Bloc got
00:17:25.00020.4%. Now it shows you how left-wing Montreal is. The Conservatives got 3.36% even back in 2021
00:17:32.240when the Liberals were weaker. In 2019, Steve Gilbeau won with 41% of the vote. And in 2015,
00:17:39.780it was an NDP riding. Before that, it was still an NDP in 2011. And it was Gilles Decep and the