Online Harms Bureaucracy to Cost $201M Over Next 5 Years: Budget Watchdog

The federal budget watchdog says it will cost $201 million over five years to maintain the bureaucracy to be created by the Liberal government’s Online Harms Act. The total dollar figure, which covers fiscal years 2024-2025 to 2028-2029, was obtained using preliminary estimates from Heritage Canada, which project a total staff of 330 full-time employees. The estimated cost does not include fines or regulatory charges which the new office could level on service providers. The budget watchdog says it didn’t attempt to calculate those revenues, saying little is known about...