Why Poilievre isn’t talking about the CBC
Something is missing from Conservative Party election rallies and promises so far this campaign. While party leader Pierre Poilievre is still getting wild applause for catchphrases such as ‘boots, not suits’, ‘jail not bail’ or ‘axe the tax’, his familiar call to ‘defund the CBC’ has fallen silent.
The closest the party has come to speaking about Canada’s public broadcaster was the March 26th release of the Conservative platform for the province of Quebec. It commits the party to maintaining funding for the French language services provided by Radio-Canada.
That’s a political no-brainer. No party would win a seat in Quebec if they vowed to eliminate Radio-Canada. The service is vital for the preservation and promotion of the French language and Quebec culture. Sharing bureaus with CBC in every province and territory, Radio-Canada is equally important for members of every francophone community across the country.
Poilievre’s long-standing commitment to eliminate the CBC hasn’t, to my knowledge, crossed his lips so far in this campaign. As with so many other aspects of this election, that’s due to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Public broadcasting is fighting for its survival in the United States. On March 15th, President Trump signed an executive order to eliminate “to the maximum extent” Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Free Asia.
President Trump’s morning musings about public broadcasting in the U.S.
Meanwhile, over at the U.S. House of Representatives, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) called a House Oversight subcommittee to examine the funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).
I watched it during the last week of March, so you don’t have to.
Republican committee members argued that NPR and PBS were great when they were younger. But now, the two services are “radical left-wing echo chambers” that broadcast propaganda and disinformation while grooming children to second-guess their gender identity.
New York Post headline, April 13, 2023.
Few Canadians would vote for anyone who appears to be in lockstep with Trump. Especially now. Canadians are feeling more united and proud of their country, and its strong democratic institutions. The CBC was established as an independent Crown corporation in 1936 with the aim of "fostering a national spirit and interpreting national citizenship.” Poilievre can’t afford to mess with that while Trump threatens annexation.
No matter where they live or how much money they make, every Canadian has access to CBC. You don’t need cable or the Internet to get local news, current affairs on a wide variety of topics, special emergency programming and Canadian music.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement. CBC needs a major overhaul, especially when it comes to the future of its English TV service. It’s been in decline since federal Conservative and Liberal governments slashed its budgets in 1990, 1995 and 1997. The results included thousands of layoffs, local program cancellations. It also resulted in a much more centralized and top-heavy corporate structure. CBC in 2025 is bloated and depleted at the same time.
CBC/Radio-Canada is saddled with a 35-year-old mandate. The 1991 Broadcasting Act predates the regular use of email and the Internet. It didn’t look beyond so-called “terrestrial” radio and television to possibilities of livestreaming, podcasting or social media. Back then, reporters were journalists, not multi-platform content providers. Canada has also experienced decades of major cultural, economic and demographic change.
Handcuffed by an outdated mandate, CBC and Radio-Canada have spread themselves impossibly thin. They broadcast high-quality comedy, news, sports, arts and Indigenous programming across more than 30 services that most Canadians aren’t aware of.
CBC needs to be fixed, not defunded. The next Parliament should update the Broadcasting Act to reflect what Canadians want and need from their public broadcaster in the 21st century.
A strong and independent CBC supports national unity, protects Canadians from disinformation, and improves mutual understanding and dialogue across five different time zones. There’s never been a greater need for public broadcasting.
