‘The “defund” narrative has picked up momentum,’ CBC president warns

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OTTAWA — The push to axe funding to CBC “has picked up momentum” especially when it comes to television, its CEO and president warned in a private email earlier this year.

In the January email from Catherine Tait, obtained through an access-to-information request, the CBC president asked two people to volunteer for a committee being set up by the heritage minister to develop a government plan for CBC/Radio-Canada.

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The names of the two recipients have been redacted, but Tait said in the email that their participation would be “critical to the issues on the table.”

The year ahead would be a “big year” for the industry, the CEO said.

“Sadly,” Tait wrote, “the ‘defund’ narrative has picked up momentum — especially as it relates to CBC television. I believe the industry must rally if we are to secure Canadian-owned production for the future.”

Tait’s tenure at the public broadcaster is set to end in January 2025, with the government hoping to announce her replacement this fall, according to an official who spoke on the condition of background.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge has also said fall is when she hopes to release the government’s long-awaited plan to modernize the public broadcaster, which would include changes to its mandate.

That mandate is outlined in the Broadcasting Act, a piece of legislation not touched since 1991. St-Onge is set to take parental leave beginning in November.

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To help inform the government’s plan for CBC/Radio-Canada, St-Onge struck a committee earlier this year comprised of seven people with media experience to provide her with “non-partisan” advice on the public broadcaster’s “funding, governance and mandate.”

A CBC spokesman declined to comment about Tait’s email, saying “we won’t comment on private correspondence.”

Tait expressed similar concerns in other emails she sent in the course of planning a conference on public broadcasting, which was staged last week in Ottawa and set to be her final public event.

Should he win the next election, Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to “defund” the public broadcaster, which received $1.4 billion in the last federal budget.

His promise is one of his most popular among Conservative supporters and one which the party regularly uses to fundraise.

Poilievre and his MPs have also pledged to sell off CBC’s headquarters in Toronto as well as the headquarters of its French-language programming arm, Radio-Canada, located in Montreal.

The Conservative leader routinely accuses the broadcaster of “bias” and has argued most of what CBC’s English services offer is already provided by the private market. He has, however, promised to maintain new services for Francophones, but has not yet outlined details on how that could work, given CBC and Radio-Canada operate as one corporation whose spending is determined by a board of directors.

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The corporation has said its editorial independence is enshrined in law.

Tait recently told CBC News she is not worried about what the next federal election might bring for the broadcaster, but cautioned against those calling for it to be scrapped, saying the institution has been a part of the country’s “cultural fabric” for almost 90 years.

St-Onge has said she wants to see the broadcaster’s mandate updated before Canadians head to the polls.

The likelihood of a general vote happening sooner than the scheduled October 2025 date increased after the federal New Democrats decided to exit the supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals, injecting more uncertainty into the minority Parliament.

“As a government, we are working toward strengthening our independent public broadcaster,” St-Onge said in a statement.

“Our plan for a better CBC contrasts sharply with the Conservatives’ proposal to defund and dismantle CBC/(Radio-Canada) that millions of Canadians count on.”

Conservative MP Rachel Thomas, who serves as the party’s critic for Canadian Heritage in Parliament, accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of being “desperate to save his broken and failing propaganda machine.”

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“His Liberal government is writing new laws and regulations to secure even more taxpayers dollars for the CBC and appoint yet another handpick CEO to continue running it as Justin Trudeau’s mouthpiece,” Thomas said in a statement.

To pick a new CEO, St-Onge tapped a separate committee to provide her a list of names. The process follows other governor-in-council appointments.

Thomas said the “so-called modernization” does not make up for the millions in bonuses the corporation’s board of directors has approved paying executives as well as other employees, including after the last fiscal year where it cut 141 jobs and eliminated another 205 vacancies to make up for a shortfall.

Tait defended paying executive compensation as “incentive pay” during repeated Commons committee appearances. She has said the corporation is also reviewing the practice.

Niki Ashton, the NDP’s heritage critic, says the broadcaster’s focus under Tait “has shifted away from saving quality journalism and toward rewarding her fellow wealthy executives.”

“The NDP is committed to changing that. We’re fighting to ban these excessive executive bonuses and ensure a focus on local, minority-language and Indigenous broadcasting that truly reflects Canada’s diversity,” she said in a statement.

National Post

staylor@postmedia.com

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