50 Canadian Screen Organisations Tell Ottawa: Don't Let Netflix and Prime Video Off the Hook
Fifty Canadian screen organisations have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller, demanding the government hold foreign streaming services to their funding obligations for Canadian content. The coalition — including the Directors Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Canadian Media Producers Association, Hot Docs, the Calgary and Vancouver international film festivals, and the Canadian Film Institute — wants Ottawa to reverse course on policy amendments announced in June that could sharply reduce or eliminate how much platforms like Netflix and Prime Video must spend on local programming (Deadline, 13 August 2026).
Notably absent from the signatories: the Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF did not sign the letter, though it has separately partnered with the Directors Guild of Canada on festival programming.
The dispute traces back to a regulatory chain that began in June 2024, when the CRTC — Canada's broadcast regulator — ruled that major streaming services operating in Canada must contribute 5% of their Canadian revenues to support domestic content (Reuters, 4 June 2024). Streaming services challenged those rules the following month, arguing the regulator acted unreasonably in compelling foreign companies to fund news production (Reuters, 4 July 2024). The CRTC had subsequently raised the contribution rate from 5% to 15% before the June amendments called for a "new direction."
Those amendments appeared to command a sharp reduction or complete removal of the spending obligations, paired with a pledge of C$600 million (about $430 million) annually for content. The government denied the changes were tied to trade talks with the Trump administration, saying they were about reducing burdens on families. Prime Minister Carney said the government was looking at how much the new policy would cost Canadians (AP News, 3 June 2026).
The open letter disputes whether the C$600 million pledge can replace legally binding obligations. It described the contributions as "not a tax or a levy" but "investments in the acquisition and production of globally exploitable assets for foreign streaming services" — meaning streamers are effectively buying Canadian-made shows they can then distribute worldwide. The letter warned that removing enforceable requirements would "introduce significant uncertainty into the production sector" and weaken Canada's position as a cultural exporter.
CMPA chair Kyle Irving was blunter in June: "We are concerned that the federal government has sold out Canadian culture in favour of big U.S. tech interests" (Deadline, 13 August 2026). The Directors Guild of Canada, which represents more than 7,000 members across 96 job categories, issued its own press release on 3 June 2026 stating the government must not replace streaming obligations with taxpayer funding.
The screen-industry letter is distinct from a separate open letter signed by 70 leading Canadians and civil society groups urging Carney to "defend Canada's digital sovereignty" (CBC News, 2 September 2025).
For the crews, writers' rooms, and production companies whose budgets hinge on what streamers are required to spend, the stakes are concrete. The letter demands the government "preserve the principle that foreign streaming services must make meaningful, predictable and enforceable contributions to Canadian programming" — in both official languages and across culturally significant genres. Whether Ottawa treats the C$600 million pledge as a replacement or a supplement will shape what Canadian stories get made, and by whom.
