(Ottawa) If Pierre Poilievre wants to defund the CBC/Radio-Canada while maintaining its French programming, he will have to modify the country’s broadcasting law to achieve this.
So says the company, which has found itself in a standoff with the Leader of the Opposition over his promise to cut the nearly $1 billion in taxpayers’ money it receives every year.
Former Tory leaders have also attacked the crown corporation, which receives its share of public funds through Parliament when MPs pass the federal budget.
Mr. Poilievre’s idea of stripping the CBC/Radio-Canada of its public funding is wildly popular among conservatives and drew thunderous applause from the crowds that lined up to see him during the leadership race. Last year.
But he also hinted that he supported Radio-Canada’s French services.
When asked how he balances those two things, his firm cited an interview he gave to the channel in March 2022, in which he suggested continuing to support services tailored to French-speaking minorities.
In another interview last July with the right-wing outlet True North, Poilievre explained that the only reason for a public broadcaster is to provide content that the private market does not offer. He claimed that was not the case for CBC’s English services.
“Almost everything the CBC does can be done in the marketplace today through technology,” he told host Andrew Lawton. I would save a small part for the French-speaking minorities, the linguistic minorities, because, frankly, they will not get market information services. »
He added that he doesn’t think CBC’s English-language services on TV or online “provide something that people can’t get in the marketplace.”
However, this seems easier said than done.
In a statement, CBC/Radio-Canada said funding only Radio-Canada would “change the very nature of how programs and services are funded in Canada by targeting public money to a single language group.”
A spokesperson said this would require “rewriting the Broadcasting Act”, which sets out the company’s mandate.
The law requires the company to provide programs in both French and English, and it does not give the government the power to decide how resources are allocated to achieve this.
It also stipulates that the broadcaster must maintain its “freedom of expression and independence, in journalism, creation and programming” and offer a range of television and radio services.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is the only media company in the country that serves all Canadians, in both official languages [et huit langues autochtones]from coast to coast,” said Leon Mar, spokesperson for the company, in a written statement.
It is the company’s board of directors that determines how the funds received are spent. In 2021-22, the CBC received over $1.2 billion in government funding, down from approximately $1.4 billion in 2020-21.
Peter Menzies, senior researcher at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and former vice-chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), said cuts to CBC funding are one thing, but it would be difficult to prescribe how it can use the money “unless it completely redoes the legislation”.
According to him, a future government could give the channel a new mandate specifying the type of services, platforms and languages it must provide, but that would amount to “picking winners and losers”.
“I’m not sure politicians really want to go down the road of ‘we’re going to give francophones better service with the public money that we’re going to give anglophones,'” he said.
Mr. Menzies added that while he thinks changes need to be made at the CBC, “it’s a lot more complicated than people think.”
“Preferring one part of the channel to another, especially linguistically, I think opens a door that you don’t really want to open. »
He also pointed out that around 40% of CBC revenues already go to Radio-Canada, even though the proportion of French-speaking households in Canada is much lower.
Poilievre says cuts to CBC’s overall funding would save taxpayers money, and he’s also hinted that he intends to sell his buildings.
Speaking to a crowd gathered in Calgary last August, the then-candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada accused the corporation of putting “all the money into these big gigantic temples they call corporate headquarters in Toronto and in Montreal. Montreal is the headquarters of Radio-Canada.
“There are savings to be made there,” he added.
During his visit to Edmonton on Thursday, Mr. Poilievre was asked if he was prepared to amend the federal broadcasting law as it relates to CBC/Radio-Canada and its French-language services. He did not respond, but called the channel “biased Liberal Party propaganda.”
He asked Twitter to add a “government funded” label to accounts that promote CBC “news-related” content, but did not ask the same for Radio-Canada.
The company argues that this description is inaccurate, saying its editorial independence is enshrined in law. It also distinguishes between ‘government’ and ‘public’ funding, as the money it receives is granted by a vote of Parliament.
After such a label was applied to the BBC, the broadcaster hit back and Twitter eventually changed the label to “publicly funded media”.
Relations between the Federal Conservatives and the CBC deteriorated further at the start of the year, when CBC CEO Catherine Tait said in an interview with Globe and Mail that Mr. Poilievre’s criticism boiled down to a slogan the party used to raise funds.
This is precisely what the party did following Mr.me Tait. Mr. Poilievre said Mr.me Tait showed that CBC had launched a partisan attack on him and that he could not be trusted.
The exchange follows an invitation from Mr. Tait to meet with Mr. Poilievre just days after he was elected leader of the party last September.
At the end of November, Mr.me Tait contacted Mr Poilievre again, saying she was disappointed by the response she received from his office that he would not be able to meet him – although the party continues to attack the CBC and its journalists in accusing them of being biased.
These fundraising efforts do not take into account the scope and value of what CBC/Radio-Canada offers Canadians, nor the consequences for this country and its economy if it were to be “defunded”, wrote Ms.me Tait in a letter to Mr. Poilievre.
The Press first reported this letter, which she obtained through an access to information request. The Canadian Press also obtained a copy.
“As director of the public broadcaster and leader of the opposition,” continues Ms.me Tait, I think Canadians can rightly expect that we both have a responsibility to discuss the implications of your promise. »
With information from Mickey Djuric in Ottawa and Ritika Dubey in Edmonton.