A tax break that doesn’t pass

Marc-André Lemieux

Thursday, December 7, 2017 01:00

UPDATE
Thursday, December 7, 2017 01:00

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Nearly three-quarters of Quebecers feel it is unfair that the tax exemption given to Netflix by Ottawa, reveals a survey Light.

According to this study, 72 % of Quebecers believe that it is unfair that Netflix and other giant aliens in the web to be able to escape the taxes required to pay their canadian competitors, including Bell, Quebecor and Cogeco.

The president of Léger, Jean-Marc Leger, speaks to a clear verdict.

“Often, in surveys, it is found to 50-50. Here, there is no ambiguity : the people do not accept that the federal government does not tax Netflix. “

Commissioned by Quebecor, this web-based survey, conducted among a representative sample of 1025 Quebec, seems at the moment more than a hundred artists, producers, broadcasters and business people unite to decry the policy of the federal in the face of the giant aliens from the web, such as Netflix, Amazon and Google.

Lack of public understanding

Unveiled in September, the cultural policy of Mélanie Joly, minister of Heritage of the government of Justin Trudeau, has been the target of many attacks. His refusal to tax Netflix has been strongly denounced, even if Ms. Joly says that the company’s streaming is committed to invest $ 500 million over 5 years to produce canadian content.

However, only one-quarter of Quebeckers (27 %) believe this promise, and an overwhelming majority of respondents (89 %) want to see the content of the contract.

“People do not understand why this agreement remains private, underlines Jean-Marc Léger. The Trudeau government has set the bar high, speaking of transparency in the beginning of the mandate. The Canadians have taken him at his word. Why is it that such an agreement should remain secret ? “

“For Quebecers, the government has not done its homework in this folder,” says Mr. Light. There are a lot of management errors in this folder. “

A debate on ” major “

The case of Netflix, appealing to the population, reveals the report. Nearly 60 % of respondents believe that the arrival of Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Google is a threat to the quebec television.

“That 82 % of people have heard of the debate, it means it is something major, observes Jean-Marc Léger. People feel concerned. They are aware of. They know what they are talking about. This is not a debate as the other. “

The unequivocal results of the survey should resonate loudly in Ottawa, said Jean-Marc Léger.

“For a government, the pulse of the public, it is always major. The government of Justin Trudeau is still very popular in Quebec, but this decision will have on Netflix could increase its number of enemies, because it touches a chord of Quebec : the francophone culture. “