As with any decade-old, long-in-the-tooth government, the list of things for which to deride, roll your eyes, shake your head at, or otherwise be embarrassed about when it comes to Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals is long and growing.
Where to even begin? To fully document and unpack that musty old political closet would take far more time and space than this weekly newspaper affords.
Luckily, this column isn’t about those things, but rather, one of the unequivocal positives to come from the Trudeau Liberal government: The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) Program.
Launched by Canada’s Heritage ministry in 2019, the LJI program supports the creation of original civic journalism in underserved communities across Canada—of which there are distressingly many.
The feds have contributed $50 million to the program since then, with the money going into a big pot to be administered by independent agencies like News Media Canada.
Pique applied for, and was fortunate enough to receive, funding for an LJI position last year, and in September 2023, Roisin Cullen took up the task of reporting on all things Lil’wat Nation and Pemberton.
Since then, she has covered everything from rodeos, powwows, and First Nations rights to business successes, local tragedies, and everything in between, sharing previously untold stories of victory, pride and heartbreak.
In short, she’s doing everything the LJI was put in place to do: documenting and deciphering in an area of previous darkness; shining a light on stories that deserve to be told, whether or not it drives clicks or advertising dollars.
The federal government re-upped the LJI program for $58 million in March, and on May 27, Pique learned our LJI contract was renewed, meaning our LJI role in the Pemberton Valley will remain in place until at least March 2025.
Suffice to say, this is wonderful news if you’re a fan of local journalism.
The LJI renewal is a big win, but it’s just one piece of the editorial pie in Whistler these days. It’s something of a new-look newsroom here at Pique in 2024, and we’re excited for what’s to come in the months and years ahead.
Regular readers will have spotted a new byline in the midst, as reporter Liz McDonald joined Pique last month, hitting the ground running.
Catch her covering all things Whistler (and if you’re not already, follow Pique on TikTok @piquenewsmagazine to witness her drag us back into social-media relevancy).
Meanwhile, reporter Scott Tibballs joined the team in October, and wasted no time ingratiating himself with (or maybe just grating against) the politicians of the region. He’s got his finger on the pulse of Whistler’s municipal hall, and he’ll be the man writing about all the hand kissin’ and baby shakin’ on the provincial campaign trail this fall.
Last but certainly not least, having started in November 2022, David Song is now effectively Pique’s longest-tenured reporter (I can sense him cringing as I type this—he hates when I say that), covering the sports and arts beats with both style and determination. If you haven’t already, send David your pitches at [email protected]—he’s got a way with words and an eye for a narrative, and it just so happens we’ve got a daily news website and a newspaper we publish every single week that we like to fill with nice stories about people doing cool things in our communities. What a nice fit!
And I would of course be remiss not to mention longtime Piquer and arts editor Alyssa Noel, who is coming to the end of her second maternity leave and will rejoin the fray come September (mercifully—the newsroom simply hasn’t been the same without her stunning wit).
In a weird, roundabout way, producing local news is a community effort. It requires an editorial team, of course—someone to assign stories, and reporters to write them.
But it also demands local, on-the-ground sources to trust those reporters with their stories, and readers to buy in and pick up a copy or read online consistently (please consider subscribing to our newsletter if you haven’t already! Find more info at piquenewsmagazine.com/account/support/signup).
In turn, we need our local businesses, community organizations and governments at all levels to support us through advertising.
Because federal LJI funding aside, the local news business is still an uphill battle, and getting steeper every year.
People still want and expect their news for free (as it should be), even as advertising revenue gets harder to maintain.
The public still expects reporters to do it fast, get it right, be fair and unbiased, and hold officials to account with tough questions.
But by and large, they don’t want to have to contribute with their wallets. And fair enough—it’s a tall ask of any individual in today’s economy. But if you’re a local business with any sort of community-oriented advertising budget, Pique would be eternally grateful for your support. Running a regular ad, in print or online, goes a long way to keeping us publishing long into the future. Aside from our website, which is updated consistently every day, Pique’s weekly print product is delivered to the hotels of hundreds of thousands of Whistler tourists annually, and advertising in it comes with the added bonus of knowing you’re supporting your local community in one of the best damn ways possible: by feeding its hungry journalists.
We want them to stay hungry, of course, but not in a literal sense. We just want to keep employing them, so they can keep telling your stories, getting it right, being fair and unbiased, and holding officials to account with tough questions.
