They have served the paymaster well, but the new Governor may be tiring of them.

The subsidy party for Canada’s media isn’t exactly coming to an end, but heads up, newsroom employee: the pencils are sharpening.

That’s because, as we enter the seventh year of the “temporary,” five-year Journalism Labour Tax Credit (JLTC), its also temporary three-year increase to its benefit to publishers is looking like it might actually be as transient as advertised.

When the JLTC was first introduced in 2019 under the Trudeau government, it was built to pay 25 percent of newsroom salaries up to a maximum of $55,000. That translated into $13,750 per employee earning at least that amount. But in the years leading up to and including the last federal election, that was increased to 35 percent of salaries, up to $85,000, translating to $29,750 per eligible employee. […]

But now, and alas for those who have benefited from the federal tax credit, the belts are tightening because the credit will be returning to its original 25 percent. Applied to a maximum $85,000 salary, that puts the benefit at $21,250 or $8,500 less per worker. In a newsroom with 20 qualified workers, that’s a $170,000 loss to their bottom line, which likely means jobs will disappear—potentially a 10 percent cut in the workforce.

While the Department of Heritage is soliciting input from stakeholders and experts (I was not asked) to figure out what to make of this mess, the forecast for the subsidized is grim.