We work with some of Canada's leading experts to produce cutting-edge public policy research. Our most recent publication report identified a loophole in the Income Tax Act that gives Canadian businesses unfair tax rewards for advertising with foreign digital media companies like Google and Facebook, siphoning more than $5 billion out of Canadian journalism and storytelling each year. Motivated by this research, the Commons Heritage Committee and Senate Transport and Communications Committee have called on the government to revisit this loophole.
FRIENDS regularly commissions public opinion research on a variety of subjects, including:
- Support for CBC and provincial public broadcasters
- Political preferences in key ridings
- Importance of Canadian content to the preservation of Canadian culture and identity
- Views on key legislation and regulation
- Views on how Canada should deal with the Big Tech monopolies
Ottawa is infested with corporate lobbyists whose foremost concern is profit. The public interest is hardly their top priority. And with big tech hiring politicians and government hiring from big tech, it's becoming even more difficult for regular people to have their voices heard on Parliament Hill.
No matter what big tech might say, Canadians are strong supporters of CBC, and of all Canadian journalism and storytelling. MPs, senators, party staffers and civil servants need to know how deep this support is, before they make decisions that hand even more control of the Canadian audio-visual system to unaccountable private companies who just want to make a buck – or a billion bucks.
April, 2018. FRIENDS' Executive Director Daniel Bernhard addresses MPs and Senators in Ottawa
April, 2018. FRIENDS Founder Ian Morrison greets Senator David Tkachuk at a FRIENDS event in Ottawa.
We mobilize our 364,000 supporters to sign petitions, write to their elected officials, and volunteer at the grassroots level.
2015 - FRIENDS volunteers in Calgary Centre
Our cultural sovereignty is directly linked to the health of our democracy and the development of an informed and engaged citizenry.
