Carney says he won’t backtrack on digital services tax, streamers’ CanCon payments

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says he won’t change his mind about his decision to eliminate the digital services tax and Canadian content contributions for streamers.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet asked Carney in the House of Commons on Monday whether he would reconsider those decisions, since they failed to secure progress in trade talks with the United States.

“No,” Carney replied.

Blanchet said in French that Carney’s strategy failed and that big tech companies, whose revenue streams are larger than those of some countries, should have to contribute to arts and culture.

Carney responded that it was the Americans who failed to put in place restrictions on the French language and Canadian culture.

Carney said last month the U.S. put pressure on Canada to adjust its position on the rules around discoverability of content online. He said those U.S. demands would have affected Canada’s ability to protect its culture, including the French language.

He cited that as one of the reasons his government ended negotiations in August.

Those discoverability rules, which are not yet in place, are enabled by the Online Steaming Act.

The CRTC previously said that, under that legislation, it would require large streaming services like Netflix to contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to support Canadian content.

The government said in June it would eliminate the financial contribution requirement, though it has not yet officially started that process.

The digital services tax was a separate government measure that would have imposed a three-per-cent levy on revenue from Canadian users on the biggest tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb.

Just before the first payment was due last year, Carney said he would eliminate the tax in order to restart trade talks with the United States.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2026.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press