Liberal Leader Mark Carney said on Friday that his government would provide an initial $150-million annual funding increase to CBC and Radio-Canada as part of a new mandate for the public broadcaster.
“When we compare ourselves to the U.K., France or Germany, we see that our public broadcaster is underfunded,” Carney said in French during a campaign stop in Montreal. “That has to change.”
That initial funding top-up could rise, Carney said.
It’s always OK when they do it.
I cannot recall the last time I watched CBC television ‘programming.’ Use the news site but that’s it.
A steep boost in Crown broadcaster funding proposed by the Department of Canadian Heritage is unappealing to taxpayers, admitted a Liberal-appointed senator.
Sen. Andrew Cardozo, a long-time CBC supporter, in a recent report recommended the state broadcaster be considered an essential service — but without additional millions, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Former senior Canadian intelligence officials say Canada needs to be on the lookout for campaigns aimed at destabilizing the country amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s escalating 51st state threats.
And they told CBC News that the most potent weapon wielded by the Trump administration to advance the cause of annexation would likely not be the intelligence agencies directed by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“I would regard Mr. Musk as a problem,” said Ward Elcock, who headed CSIS for a decade including during the 9/11 attacks and also served as national security adviser. “I think that’s on a number of fronts.”
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly says the CBC is critical to safeguarding Canadian democracy against external threats, particularly from the United States.
Blacklock’s Reporter says speaking to the Vancouver Board of Trade, Joly argued that the Crown broadcaster is as vital as Parliament and the courts in the current “security crisis.”
How can a broadcaster almost no one watches be essential to anything?
CBC reporters should cycle to assignments as part of the broadcaster’s climate strategy, according to a corporate report.
Blacklock’s Reporter says the document did not specify what actions would be taken to curb emissions from executives who frequently travel abroad.
OTTAWA — The Liberals want Canadians to pay more for their public broadcaster, saying the country’s “national security” depends on it.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge presented her plan for “The Future of CBC/Radio-Canada” on Thursday, an apparent response to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s plan to “defund the CBC.”
NEW
The Trudeau government wants to nearly DOUBLE the CBC funding, from $1.3 billion to $2.4 billion
to "combat misinformation"
this is a FULL ADMISSION that the CBC is the Liberal lifeline and preferred propaganda tool…. paid for by YOU. pic.twitter.com/CdOc0vChGN
— Tablesalt (@Tablesalt13) February 21, 2025
No one needs “More CBC” h/t Mauser
There’s a need for new laws to ensure the future of CBC, said Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge on Thursday in an update on the new mandate for the public broadcaster.
She proposed removing the CBC’s budget out of the political realm, and instead through a per capita funding model based on the size of the population.
“CBC does not belong to the Liberals or the Conservatives. It does not belong to any political party. It belongs to Canadians,” said St-Onge.
WOW
Heritage Minister holding a news conference on CBC now
So far, she wants to remove the money taxpayers pay for the CBC to be removed from the budget so we cannot see it as a line item anymore… and stick in "statutory appropriations" instead
Sounds like the Liberal… pic.twitter.com/ECpLmymYUH
— Kris Sims (@kris_sims) February 20, 2025
Where is journalist Travis Dhanraj — previous host of CBC’s Canada Tonight a prime-time news program?
According to speculation online, he is no longer on air due to what appears to be disciplinary action or a leave of absence related to his advocacy for balanced coverage, including the inclusion of conservative voices in public discourse.
A shadow war on libraries
Some Canadian politicians and influencers, inspired by an American-born movement, are trying to roll back 2SLGBTQ+ rights in Canada — one book at a time.
In May of 2019, the CBC unveiled its annual slate of programming. One title stood out to me, at the time, as being especially curious: representing the confused manner in which the network was grappling with its role as the nation’s public broadcaster. I am talking, of course, about ”Family Feud Canada.”
Hosted by abiding CBC workhorse Gerry Dee, ”Family Feud Canada” followed the shopworn format of the popular gameshow, in which two rival families compete to find the most popular answers to a series of survey questions. It reminded me of “The Simpsons” bit where beloved Barbie-like doll Malibu Stacey, suffering a flagging market share, is repackaged with a new hat. “Family Feud Canada” was the same, tired, U.S. game show format bedecked with a Leafs jersey and toque.
CBC barely exists.
New CBC boss wants ’national conversation’ on Conservatives’ vow to defund the public broadcaster
OTTAWA — With U.S. President Donald Trump making “territorial claims,” the new head of CBC says defunding the public broadcaster could erode a pillar of Canada’s cultural identity.
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, CEO of CBC-Radio-Canada, is calling for a “national conversation” on the Conservative promise to defund, and is launching a tour to get it started.
CBC’s new chief executive officer has suggested that Pierre Poilievre poses an “existential threat” to the public broadcaster.
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, who took over for Catherine Tait in early January, also said that despite backlash over bonuses given to executives in the past, she was unsure whether she would receive one herself.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has come under fire for hiring George Achi in a senior position after he previously instructed journalists at Canada’s state broadcaster not to refer to members of the internationally designated terrorist organization Hamas as “terrorists.”
In late 2023, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said it was time for the federal government to redefine what the CBC does and how it does it.
A year later – and with a federal election expected some time this spring – her office is promising the minister will unveil the planned changes to the public broadcaster’s mandate in “due course.” But with Parliamentary business on hold until late March due to prorogation, and opposition parties champing at the bit to trigger an election, getting any legislative changes to the CBC’s mandate passed may be a long shot.
