Question Period Note: CBC/Radio-Canada’s Mandate

With the release of the final report of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel on January 29, 2020, and the upcoming public hearings on CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence-renewal applications set to begin May 25, 2020, it is expected that questions about the future mandate and role of the national public broadcaster will receive considerable public attention in the coming months.
Some broadcasters and news providers have already singled out CBC/Radio-Canada as a major competitor whose ability to run advertising against publicly subsidized free content constitutes an unfair economic advantage. Others have argued that the Corporation has strayed from its mandate by offering programming that is increasingly similar to that provided by the commercial element.

• CBC/Radio-Canada remains an essential part of Canada’s media ecosystem and a key contributor of Canadian content, including trusted news and information.
• As we work to modernize the Broadcasting Act, we will consider the recommendations of the legislative review panel relating to CBC/Radio-Canada and how best to position our national public broadcasters in the years ahead.

• CBC/Radio-Canada is a Crown corporation that operates at arm’s length from the Government, but it reports annually to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. The Treasury Board approves the capital budget annually, and the Auditor General of Canada audits the financial statements in CBC/Radio-Canada’s Annual Report.
• CBC/Radio-Canada has two revenue streams: parliamentary appropriations and self-generated revenues, mainly from advertising and subscriptions (to discretionary services, for example). CBC/Radio-Canada received $1.21 billion in parliamentary appropriations for the year-ending March 31, 2019. This figure includes $150 million additional annual funding that was announced in Budget 2016 to support investments in enhanced services including digital Canadian content, and will be provided on an ongoing basis. The Corporation also earned $490 million in revenue, including $249 million from advertising.
• The Canadian broadcasting system is undergoing structural changes, which affect most significantly the advertising market, one of television’s major revenue sources. In response to this shift in the ecosystem, the Corporation announced in 2014, in its five-year strategic plan, “A space for us all”, that it was reducing its workforce, real estate footprint, local programming, in-house production and seeking to maximize self-generated revenues.
• In Budget 2016, the Government reinvested $675 million in CBC/Radio-Canada over five years, and $150 million per year on an ongoing basis, to enable the CBC/Radio-Canada to create Canadian content which will be more digital, local and ambitious in scope.”
• On May 22, 2019, CBC/Radio-Canada shared its three-year strategic vision, “Your Stories, Taken to Heart”. CBC/Radio-Canada continues to transform into a modern national public broadcaster that Canadians value by focusing on three themes: 1. strengthening trust in news and democracy; 2. building a lifelong connection with all Canadians; and 3. promoting and supporting Canadian culture and values at home and around the world.
• On November 25, 2019, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued a Notice of Consultation 2019-379, calling for Canadians to comment on the licence renewal applications for the radio and television services of CBC/Radio-Canada for the next licence term (2020 to 2025). Canadians can send written comments to the CRTC until February 13, 2020. A public hearing will be held starting May 25, 2020. The main theme of the renewal application is how CBC/Radio-Canada can fulfill its mandate across traditional platforms and digital media.
• On December 13, 2019, the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages received the mandate to modernize and reinforce the Official Languages Act. The modernization effort includes a commitment “to protect the role of CBC/Radio-Canada in better reflecting Canada’s linguistic duality and official language minority communities across the country”.
• On January 29, 2020, the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel released its final report.
• Among the key recommendations of the report is a new role for CBC/Radio-Canada, which includes: 1. Expanding its mandate to provide news reporting at national, regional and local levels; Canadian perspectives on international news; reflection of local audiences; reflection and promotion of Indigenous culture and languages; presenting Canadian content to international audiences); 2. Removal of specific reference to radio and television in its mandate; 3. Focus on a public purpose; 4. More stable funding through 5-year funding agreements with the Government and gradually eliminate advertising, starting with news content.

None