Liberal heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez hinted that he will be compensating mainstream media newsrooms after his government botched Online News Bill C-18.

Last week, the Trudeau Liberals passed the Online News Act, which dictated that tech giants would have to pay news outlets for clicks that direct people to their platforms.

In turn, Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – announced they would block Canadians’ access to news on their sites. 

Meta’s head of public policy in Canada, Rachel Curran, doubled down on their impending action.

“We are proceeding towards ending the availability of news permanently in Canada,” she said on Tuesday’s Power & Politics.

Canadians will still be able to see information from governmental and non-governmental organizations disseminated on Facebook, but not media outlets.

Google came close to blocking Canadians’ access to news on their platform as well, but they have delayed their decision.

Curran said Meta had 18 private deals to compensate Canadian media outlets in place, but the passage of the bill jeopardizes those deals.

She also said Meta advised the Liberal government over the course of several months that if the online news bill were to pass, Meta would block Canadian access to news.

Now, Rodriguez seemingly wants to dip his fingers into the public purse and hand over cash to mainstream media outlets whose deals with Meta fell through.

Rodriguez didn’t say precisely what kinds of tax credits, funding programs, or other goodies the mainstream media may receive, but he did suggest that every option is on the table. 

“We have to make sure that newsrooms are open, that [journalists] are able to do their job and [they] have the resources necessary,” Rodriguez said.

Of course, it isn’t unusual for the Trudeau government to gift money to the mainstream media.

In the months leading up to the 2019 Canadian election, the Trudeau government handed mainstream media companies a $600 million media bailout.