New Report Warns Collapse of Local News Threatens Canadian Democracy

OTTAWA, ON, July 31, 2025 /CNW/ - A new report from the Public Policy Forum, in partnership with the Rideau Hall Foundation and the Michener Awards Foundation, warns that the collapse of local news is imperiling the underpinnings of Canadian democracy. Released today, Uncovered: How to build back election coverage for a better democracy reveals how millions of voters went to the polls this spring with little or no information about their local candidates.

The report documents what happens when an important national election unfolds against the backdrop of a collapse in local news. New Ipsos polling commissioned for the report reveals that:

• 70 percent of Canadians said more local news would have made them better informed about the election;
• 63 percent of those in local news-deprived communities were unfamiliar with local candidates' views (vs. 35 percent in areas with local news); moreover, 53 percent of those in local news-deprived communities weren't able to find information about the local candidates in their electoral district through trusted media sources; and
• 57 percent said they didn't have enough information from media, or could have used more, to make an informed choice.

(Polling was conducted by Ipsos in July 2025. Twenty-five percent of the 1,000 respondents — Canadian residents aged 18+ — lived in communities with populations under 10,000, another 25 percent lived in communities of 10,000 to 99,999, while the remaining half lived in communities of 100,000 or more. Results are considered accurate to within +/- 3.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.)

"This is much more than a media issue, it goes to the very core of Canada as a 'community of communities,'" said Inez Jabalpurwala, President and CEO of the Public Policy Forum. "We know that vibrant communities create a more prosperous nation. But Canadians are telling us loud and clear: they need trustworthy local news to make informed democratic decisions."

The polling also found that only 19 percent of voters chose their MP primarily based on the local candidate, compared to 49 percent who voted for the party and 32 percent for the leader. Three in four (74 percent) of Canadians believe too much attention is placed on party leaders and not enough on local candidates and issues. Fourteen percent of voters cited Facebook as the platform that most contributed to their voting decision, despite Facebook having banned news content in Canada.

"This was most likely the most poorly covered federal election in modern Canadian history," the report states. "Millions cast ballots with little or no real knowledge of their local candidates, while wading through the toxic waters of social media."

The report, written by Tim Harper, Sara-Christine Gemson and Alison Uncles, profiles five communities — Bonavista (NL), Richmond (BC), Laval (QC), Vaughan (ON) and Yellowknife (NWT) — to show the varying effects of local news presence on civic awareness and voter engagement. It revealed serious democratic gaps, including communities that had little election coverage other than candidate-funded advertisements and Facebook misinformation. In some cases, candidates avoided media scrutiny entirely. 

Despite these challenges, the report highlights a promising path forward. The Covering Canada: Election 2025 Fund, a non-partisan journalism fund created and led by PPF, and delivered in partnership with the Rideau Hall Foundation and the Michener Awards Foundation, awarded $525,000 in grants to 40 local media outlets during the campaign. The fund was powered by a lead gift from The Rossy Foundation and donations from the Donner, Echo, Gordon and Metcalf Foundations.

"Enabling a better-informed citizenry is a non-partisan priority that benefits all Canadians," said Teresa Marques, President and CEO of the Rideau Hall Foundation. "The goal of the Covering Canada Fund was to help cover community stories that otherwise might not have been told, and to ensure funds be dispersed quickly and efficiently to support smaller local newsrooms, public service journalism, and Canadian democracy all at the same time."

The report, which feeds into a wider PPF 'Mission Canada' initiative that links a healthy democracy with a stronger, more prosperous country, calls for the creation of a similar permanent, non-partisan election journalism fund to ensure local news outlets have the resources to deliver high-quality coverage in future campaigns.

"A devastated local news ecosystem requires additional scaffolding at election time — and will for the foreseeable future," the report says. "Hope is not a strategy. We cannot surrender our most important institutions to it."

SOURCE Public Policy Forum

For more information please contact: Alison Uncles, Vice-President, PPF Media + Communications, Public Policy Forum, [email protected]; Allison MacLachlan, Director of External Relations and Public Engagement, Rideau Hall Foundation, [email protected]