BONNYVILLE – Concerns over a new Public Notification Bylaw proposed by the MD of Bonnyville has rallied local print media publishers serving the Lakeland to speak out against the proposed bylaw during a public hearing on Jan. 10.
“This story is about much more than advertising revenue for our local newspaper, revenue that is reinvested in local journalism. It will be at the expense of limiting access to information for ratepayers who currently use a variety of means, including our newspaper and your website, to stay informed.”
— Clare Gauvreau, publisher of Lakeland This Week newspaper
The public hearing saw no one speak in support of the proposed bylaw while three people spoke in opposition of it. Additionally, two letters of opposition were also received by the municipality regarding the Public Notification Bylaw.
If passed, the bylaw would allow the MD to advertise proposed bylaws, resolutions, meetings, public hearings and other things solely through electronic means. The one condition of this transition to digital communication according to recent changes in the Municipal Government Act (MGA) under Section 606.1, is that council must be satisfied that the method the bylaw proposes would provide these public notices to the attention of “substantially all residents in the area” to which they relate.
The change to how Alberta municipalities can inform their ratepayers will allow the MD to curb its public notice advertisements in local newspapers if council votes to approve the proposed Public Notification Bylaw.
Council gave first reading to the bylaw at the regular council meeting on Dec. 14, 2022.
RELATED STORY: MD bylaw proposes shifting public notices online, cutting $100,000 in print media
Council seeks clarification
Before members of the public spoke, council sought clarification from the MD’s communications coordinator Tracy Wasylow on portions of the proposed bylaw.
Coun. Mike Krywiak asked, “Where it says the MD of Bonnyville No. 87 may also choose [one or more of the following methods to advertise], does that mean it may not as well?”
To this Wasylow responded, “Yes.” Indicating that even though newspapers are listed as one of the means that administration could use to advertise public notices, they would no longer be required to.
Seeking clarification on the order of preferred advertising methods for the municipality moving forward, Coun. Ben Fadeyiw inquired if the order presented in the proposed bylaw, listing newspapers first, followed by the MD’s social media, the MD’s opt-in electronic communications, and any other means determined appropriate, accurately represented how administration would notify the public based on available funding.
In response Wasylow said, “What we are trying to do, based on budget deliberations and the reduction in our print advertising budget by $100,000 in 2023, is to move the majority of our announcements to our digital platforms – our website, our social media. So no, they are not in order, but we can change that.”
Print media speaks out
Jeff Gaye, publisher of Respect Newspaper was the first to address council in opposition of the proposed Public Notification Bylaw.
“As a newspaper publisher, serving the MD of Bonnyville I have an obvious interest in this bylaw. The MD has been Respect’s best advertising customer, and that ad revenue is important to us. But I understand your job isn't to support local business for the sake of it,” said Gaye.
“Communication is more than just a box to check with every other program you deliver. For modern businesses and for governments, it's a core service and its importance is growing. Your ratepayers need to know what you're doing for them, and how and why you're doing it. It's important to them and it's important to you.”
Gaye noted that effective communication isn't one size fits all and that it is only successful when different methods are used to reach a wide and diverse audience.
“My readers are mostly seniors and I understand some of them have been calling their councillors on this – I'm glad to hear it – but be careful not to fall into the thinking that print media is just for us old folks,” he told council.
Referencing a 2021 Media Usage Survey by Totum Research, Gaye pointed out that in rural Alberta almost 80 per cent of respondents read their local newspaper every week.
“Now they don't read their paper for the ads, they read for the stories, and not just the stories about their local, provincial and federal governments. They read for the pictures of minor hockey and senior sports. They read for the community concerts, the art shows, for the 100th birthdays and for the obituaries. They read for the stories about their friends and neighbours. The newspaper builds community through communication,” he said.
“They turn to their local newspapers for those stories and that comes back around to serving your communications needs. Your local newspapers deliver readers who are engaged in local stories and in your ad content.”
Gaye told council that if they rely on a passive strategy that makes MD information available online but not present in a forum that engages residents, they will miss large numbers of people who need the information. “And I'd add, people that you need to have receive your information.”
The Respect newspaper primarily serves seniors in Cold Lake, Bonnyville, the St. Paul region and the MD of Bonnyville. The paper’s circulation is about 1,000 issues per publication.
‘The bigger picture’
Speaking next in opposition of the bylaw was Clare Gauvreau, publisher of Lakeland This Week newspaper.
Lakeland This Week is a regional weekly newspaper that combines four longstanding newspapers in the region – the Bonnyville Nouvelle, Lac La Biche Post, St. Paul Journal, and Elk Point Review.
“The Bonnyville Nouvelle has been publishing a newspaper in the Bonnyville area since the mid 1960s. It has served as the newspaper of record here for 60 years, chronicling the life, and times of the communities it serves, including the vast rural area that is the MD of Bonnyville,” Gauvreau told council.
“Each and every week we share the news, the announcements, the events, and the decisions that shape the lives of the people that call this area home.”
Every Tuesday, Lakeland This Week is provided free of charge by the Bonnyville Nouvelle to residents of the MD and Town of Bonnyville for a total distribution of 4,973 papers each week through a combination of direct mail and newspaper boxes.
Within the MD itself, 1,956 are mailed directly to households, while another 904 papers are distributed through community street boxes in Ardmore, Cherry Grove, Fort Kent, Iron River and La Corey.
Speaking to the implications of the proposed Public Notification Bylaw, Gauvreau said, “In a nutshell, you are considering a bylaw that will allow you to drop the newspaper from the MD’s public communication strategy... It is important to recognize that for several years the MD has been using its website and social media for advertising its public notices in combination with our newspaper.”
The publisher noted that a bylaw is not required to publish public notices online as long as they continue to be published in the local newspaper.
“However, administration is now assuming that the MD’s website and social media is all that is needed to keep residents informed,” she said.
“While administration has provided you with their side of the story, which reveals no downside in their opinion to relying solely on the MD website and social media to publish important information relating to MD operations, their position fails to take into consideration the bigger picture.”
Gauvreau said that MD residents and taxpayers expect council to operate in an open and transparent manner and that the proposed bylaw comes with a lack of evidence to show that the MD’s online presence can “reach substantially all residents."
“Where are the analytics to back up administration’s assumption?” she asked.
“MD administration maintains moving to digital notifications will result in $100,000 in savings. In fact, this amount has already been removed from your 2023 operating budget... In what would almost seem as a ‘cart before the horse’ scenario,” she said, pointing out that the MD council passed a budget with $100,000 decrease in print advertising in late November prior to the introduction of the proposed Public Notification Bylaw that would allow the municipality to essentially “shut out local newspapers.”
Gauvreau continued, “This story is about much more than advertising revenue for our local newspaper, revenue that is reinvested in local journalism. It will be at the expense of limiting access to information for ratepayers who currently use a variety of means, including our newspaper and your website, to stay informed.”
She added that making information accessible only online does not mean the public has been informed.
“While our roles may be quite different, we can agree on one thing – and that is the responsibility we each carry to ensure a healthy democracy, which relies heavily on well-informed citizens,” she said. “With that in mind, I ask that you reject this proposed advertising bylaw. That you say no to shutting out your local newspaper and yes to equal access to information for your ratepayers.”
Letter to council
Under the old MGA, public notices were required by statute to be advertised in a local newspaper.
“The law was intended to promote transparency in government and provide clear, documented evidence that the municipality had indeed communicated its intentions to the public,” stated Anthony Gallace, the director of advertising sales for Postmedia and the Cold Lake Sun.
Gallace submitted a letter to the MD council asking that they “consider the impact this bylaw may have on civic journalism in the Lakeland.”
On behalf of Post Media, he said, “We believe that local governments have a significant role to play in preserving local journalism.”
He continued, “Advertising from the towns and counties within a newspaper’s distribution footprint is by far the largest revenue source for the community newspaper. Without it, most newspapers would not be able to pay the reporters, photographers and editors in their employ and be forced to close their doors. Fortunately, most of our member newspapers have not had to face this situation so far, but you can see why a provincial newspaper association would bring its concerns to a council contemplating a change to its advertising strategy.”
Following the public hearing, administration had an opportunity to provide a rebuttal to comments made during the public hearing but opted not to.
The bylaw will be brought back before council on Jan. 24 for a decision.
