Canada’s heritage minister wants to increase funding for the CBC in an effort to protect the country’s cultural value, but Canadians have mixed feelings about giving the public broadcaster more money.
Heritage Minister Pascal St-Onge announced her vision to better the public broadcast network on Thursday, pitching a list of proposals for the future of CBC. Her claims come at a time where Canada faces threats to its sovereignty by the U.S. administration, and to its media sector from billionaire tech companies like Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta and Elon Musk’s X.
“CBC/Radio-Canada stands at a critical crossroads,” she said. “Our sovereignty is being challenged and our cultural integrity is under increasing pressure from foreign digital platforms that are reshaping the media landscape and how Canadians consume content.”
The proposal included an emphasis on innovation and collaboration, an end to subscription fees for CBC/Radio-Canada’s streaming platforms and advertising during news, the development of an Indigenous strategy in collaboration with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, and increased citizen participation and strengthened independence from the government.
We cannot say that we love our country, while at the same time vowing to destroy an institution that is almost 100 years old like CBC/Radio-Canada. It protects the sovereignty of our culture, languages, and information. This is my plan for a better CBC.👇https://t.co/fGIAWfHSbi
— Pascale St-Onge (@PascaleStOnge_) February 20, 2025
St-Onge also suggested a funding increase, one that would be adjusted for inflation.
According to documents from the Treasury Board of Canada, CBC received an estimated $1.38-billion budget between 2024-25, up from an estimated $1.29 billion for 2023-24. The institution received $1.24 billion in federal funds in 2022 and $1.39 billion in 2021, according to its annual reports.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made promises to defund CBC but keep its French-language service, Radio-Canada. He has said that ratings for English-language programming has been low, and assured that he would cut “wasteful spending” towards the institution.
“Almost nobody watches CBC Television. They have among the worst ratings of any network. And yet, Trudeau gives them billions more,” Pollievre said in a press conference last Thursday.
“We’re going to cut wasteful spending, not just there but across the government to bring down inflation, deficits and taxes.”
But St-Onge stressed that supporting the nearly 90-year broadcasting corporation is not only above politics, but a vow to our culture.
“Supporting our public broadcaster is not a question of the political left or right. It’s not a liberal or a conservative issue. It is, above all, a commitment to ourselves, our culture, and our independence,” she said.
Online, residents are reacting to St-Onge’s push to protect the CBC.
“I cannot imagine myself as an informed citizen or Canada as my beloved country without the CBC,” one user on X said.
“The CBC has failed to live up to its intended ideals. It has failed Canadians and must be defunded,” another user on X said
“We need to do something about foreign ownership of our media,” another X user argued. “We could be a model for the world. If we don’t, we are destined to become the 51st state.”
“The CBC is an important & critical institution for Canada. It is a huge country with many small communities that rely on the CBC to keep us connected with the rest of Canada,” another user wrote on the platform.
