Canada Online Streaming Act (C-11)
Canada- Introduced
- Passed Commons
- Passed Senate
- Royal Assent
Put the CRTC, Canada's broadcast regulator, over online streaming and audio platforms, with user-generated content pulled in through an exception to the exception.
Latest update
Royal assent
Current position
Law since April 2023; CRTC implementation ongoing
What it does
C-11 extended the Broadcasting Act to online platforms: streaming and audio services must register with the CRTC, contribute to Canadian content funds, and make Canadian content discoverable, meaning the regulator influences what platforms surface. The Act says user content is excluded, then lets the CRTC regulate user content that generates revenue, the carve-out that fueled two years of fighting. Royal assent came April 27, 2023, and the CRTC has been building the regime through hearings and orders since.
Why it matters
A broadcast regulator now has jurisdiction over the open internet in Canada, and discoverability rules mean a government agency shapes recommendation feeds. The user-content carve-out was the warning: exclusions written by the regulator being empowered tend to have exceptions.
Our take
The fight over C-11 came down to the CRTC gaining a foothold over what platforms show Canadians, with the content-fund payments as the respectable cover. The foothold is law. The CRTC orders since are the actual policy, written where the audience is smallest.
Timeline
Royal assent
LatestPassed the Senate
Second reading (Senate)
First reading (Senate)
Passed the Commons
Second reading (Commons)
First reading (Commons)
Sponsor
Pablo Rodriguez