Question Period Note: CBC/Radio-Canada’s role in the new media landscape

With the release of the final report of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel in January 2020, and with a CRTC public hearing set to begin in January 2021 on CBC/Radio-Canada’s application to renew its broadcasting licences, questions about the future role of the national public broadcaster will likely receive considerable public attention in the coming months, particularly in light of the economic impacts of COVID-19 on ad-dependent media.

• As the national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada has a mandate to serve and represent all Canadians.
• 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 modernize the Broadcasting Act, we will consider how best to position our national public broadcaster so that it can continue to create public value for Canadians in the years ahead.

• CBC/Radio-Canada is a Crown corporation that operates at arm’s length from the Government and reports annually to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. The Treasury Board approves its capital budget annually, and the Auditor General of Canada audits the financial statements in its annual report.
• CBC/Radio-Canada operates on a mixed funding model that relies on a combination of government and commercial revenues. In 2018-19, it received a parliamentary appropriation of $1.21 billion and reported $490 million in earned revenues, including $249 million in advertising and $124 million in subscriber fees.
• In Budget 2016, the Government reinvested $75 million in CBC/Radio-Canada, and $150 million per year thereafter on an ongoing basis, to enable it “to disseminate and support world-class Canadian content and to provide Canadians with better access to programs and services in the digital era.”
• In May 2019, CBC/Radio-Canada published its three-year strategic plan, “Your Stories, Taken to Heart,” which focuses on five key priorities: 1) customized digital services; 2) engaging with young audiences; 3) prioritizing local connections; 4) reflecting contemporary Canada; and 5) taking Canada to the world.
• In November 2019, the CRTC issued a notice of consultation calling for public comments on CBC/Radio Canada’s applications to renew the licences for its English and French radio and television services. The CRTC received more than 10,000 public interventions, many of which were critical of a perceived left-wing bias in CBC/Radio-Canada’s news reporting. CBC/Radio-Canada’s last public licence renewal hearing was held in 2013. (Its licences were administratively renewed for one year in 2018 and 2019.) One of the main themes of the upcoming process will be how the Corporation can fulfill its obligations across traditional and digital platforms. The CRTC has scheduled a public hearing to begin on January 11, 2021, after the original date was postponed due to COVID-19.
• In December 2019, the Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages received a 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.”
• In December 2019, the Minister of Canadian Heritage received a mandate to “strengthen the regional mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada to broadcast more local news and require CBC/Radio-Canada to open up its digital platform.”
• In January 2020, the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel released its final report. The panel made several recommendations related to CBC/Radio-Canada, including: 1) removing the specific reference to radio and television from its mandate; 2) expanding its programming objectives to include providing national, regional, and local news; taking creative risks; and reflecting Indigenous peoples, languages, and cultures; 3) more stable funding through five-year agreements with the government; 4) eliminating advertising over five years; 5) enshrining the new, arm’s-length process for appointing directors and the president in the legislation; and 6) providing CRTC with greater oversight over all of CBC/Radio-Canada’s platforms and activities.
• The COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of covering it put immense pressure on CBC/Radio-Canada’s workforce, operations, finances, and systems. The postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games also put additional pressure on its cash flow and left significant gaps in its programming schedule. In response to the pandemic, the Corporation took a number of steps to improve access to many of its services, including making its 24-hour English- and French-language specialty news channels and over 300 hours of programming for children and youth available for free on its video and streaming apps.
• In June 2020, pursuant to its 2018-21 Diversity and Inclusion Plan, CBC/Radio-Canada announced new hiring, retention, and promotion goals to build a more representative and inclusive workforce. In particular, the Corporation committed to the following outcomes by 2021-22: 1) half of all new hires for executive and senior management positions will be Indigenous people, visible minorities, or people with disabilities; and 2) retention and promotion rates for people from these three groups will be doubled.

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