Tory plan to defund CBC ignores associated costs, impact on Canadian life

Opinion

This week, the Conservative Party of Canada unveiled a costed platform that includes a bold and controversial proposal: to defund the CBC.

The plan aims to save taxpayers $1 billion annually by reducing spending on Crown corporations, with the CBC being the primary target. However, the proposal raises significant questions about its feasibility, implications for Canadian journalism and the future of public broadcasting in the country.

Under the Conservative plan, the CBC’s English-language services would be expected to become financially self-sufficient, relying on revenue from viewers, listeners and donations. In contrast, French-language services provided by Radio-Canada would continue to receive public funding.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has argued that the private market can adequately support English-language media, making public funding unnecessary, while maintaining support for French-language services to serve linguistic minorities.

“We will save by defunding the CBC and reforming Crown corporations while maintaining Radio-Canada services,” the Conservative’s platform says. “English-language CBC should be a Canadian-owned, self-sufficient media organization that is a not-for-profit and supported by listeners, donations, sponsorships, ad revenue, and licensing revenue.”

However, this approach faces significant legal and structural challenges. The Broadcasting Act mandates that the CBC provide programming in both official languages and does not allow the government to allocate resources based on language preference. Changing this would require a complete overhaul of the Broadcasting Act, a complex and contentious process.

It can be done. But have Canadians given their consent to this?

That’s not the biggest concern, though. While urban centres such as Winnipeg have a variety of media outlets to provide them with news and programming, rural Canada often relies heavily on the CBC for local news and information.

In many communities, especially in the North and remote regions, the CBC is the primary source of news, weather updates and emergency information. Defunding the CBC could lead to a significant information vacuum in these areas, exacerbating the challenges posed by the decline of local newspapers and other traditional media outlets.

It’s not just rural areas that would suffer, either. While larger centres have a broader spectrum of media options to serve them, the CBC still plays an important role in providing overall news coverage, including keeping governments in check. CBC reporters break stories and provide unique coverage to all parts of Canada.

That will undoubtedly become increasingly important with the erosion of traditional news media in Canada, including at major broadcasters such as CTV and Global News (which have much smaller newsrooms than they did 10 or 20 years ago).

Also, the CBC’s commitment to Indigenous programming in a country where many communities are underserved by mainstream media is critical. Reducing or eliminating funding for these services could further marginalize those locations and hinder efforts toward reconciliation.

Despite its prominence in Conservative rhetoric over the past couple of years, the proposal to defund the CBC has not received the level of detailed analysis and public debate it should.

The Conservative platform’s costed projections do not account for the potential costs associated with dismantling the CBC’s infrastructure, severing contracts or addressing the legal challenges involved in altering the Broadcasting Act.

More importantly, the plan does not clarify how the CBC’s English-language services would transition to a self-sustaining model, given the changing media landscape and the challenges of monetizing digital content.

The proposal also raises questions about the future of Canadian journalism. The CBC plays a crucial role in investigative journalism, political reporting and providing a platform for diverse voices. Without public funding, those functions would likely be diminished, leading to a less-informed electorate and a weaker democratic process.

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The Conservatives’ plan to defund the CBC is a significant and potentially harmful policy that deserves thorough examination and public discussion. It’s not enough to present a cost-saving measure without addressing the broader implications for Canadians, especially in rural and Indigenous communities.

Before proceeding with such a fundamental change to the country’s media landscape, Canadians deserve a comprehensive debate that considers the potential consequences for journalism, access to information and the preservation of cultural diversity.

Like many aspects of this federal election, this campaign pledge has been overshadowed by the dominant issue of how Canada should defend itself against U.S. President Donald Trump’s attack on Canada’s economy and sovereignty.

The future of the CBC — and by extension, the future of Canadian media — is a matter that impacts all Canadians. It’s a discussion that deserves far more attention than it’s been getting.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck
Columnist

Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.

Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.