My impression is it's something like "news websites provide content that creates engagement which drives ad revenue, and the news websites want a piece of that revenue."
Is my understanding correct? Also, I can see how it applies for Facebook, how does it apply to Google?
The Liberal party is also trying to protect Canadian content (again, not to defend or advocate for this policy), and I'm sure this is part of it, even though it may ironically backfire and end up hurting Canadian news outlets.
They make money by building a profile from your usage. And then selling that profile to advertisers. They make money by having news, because they can build a profile based on what you click and sell ads to those same websites you visit.