After months of reviewing CBC/Radio-Canada’s mission, Culture and Heritage Minister Pascal St-Onge is expected to announce changes aimed at modernizing the public broadcaster within the next four weeks.
A senior government official told CBC News that the government has drafted what could be important legal and regulatory changes to better position the company for the future as it grapples with dramatic developments in the news and broadcasting sector. He said he is in the final stages of.
The government official, who asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak publicly, said a new CEO will also be named in conjunction with the announcement of the CBC reforms. Current CEO Catherine Tait’s term is scheduled to end in January.
The mandate changes would also address long-term financing, but that portion has not yet been finalized, officials said.
The official said the government is considering how best to fund the CBC, as well as giving it new mandates that may require more funding. That’s what it means.
All of these changes are expected to be announced in the first few days of October or November, officials said, as St. Onge University steps down to take paternity leave.
CBC’s current mission, established in 1991, is to: stipulated by law Under the Broadcasting Act. It has not been updated since the internet became popular.
“We look forward to hearing the outcome of the minister’s work,” a CBC/Radio-Canada spokesperson said when asked what the company was looking for in the mandate review and whether it was seeking more funding. said.
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The next CEO will be a “change agent” who is willing to transform the public broadcaster in a way that is “not business as usual,” government officials said.
“At some point, this person could become a key figure in determining the survival of CBC,” the person said.
This is a reference to Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre’s repeated pledge, if elected, to reduce funding for English-language programs while preserving at least part of the CBC’s French-language broadcast, Radio-Canada. .
Poièvre said public broadcasting is no longer needed in English-speaking Canada because people can get news, sports and entertainment content from commercial broadcasters.
Mr. Poièvre also said CBC’s parliamentary allocations would be better spent elsewhere, saying he wants to turn the company’s broadcast centers in Toronto and Ottawa into housing.
“I can’t wait to defund CBC and sell our headquarters for housing,” Poièvre said. said on social media This comes after the company’s board of directors approved “bonuses” or performance pay for managers and other eligible employees earlier this year.
CBC/Radio-Canada received about $1.3 billion from the federal government last year and generated about $515 million in own revenue from advertising, subscription fees and investments, according to the company’s annual report.
The company’s defenders say the CBC should stay on to ensure Canadian stories are told at a time when foreign companies like Netflix and Disney have become increasingly dominant and other domestic broadcasters are going out of business. claims.
According to the report, approximately 450 newspaper companies have closed down since 2009. government dataCTV and Global are cutting staff and programming.
Global’s parent company, Corus, is facing particularly severe financial challenges. CTV’s parent company, BCE, is selling assets.
Focus on local news
The change in authority is expected to strengthen the CBC’s commitment to local news at a time when so many broadcasters have gone out of business, creating “news deserts” in some parts of the country.
The government wants the CBC to forge more collaborative relationships with other local news organizations to “uplift everyone,” officials said.
The upcoming changes to the CBC’s obligations are also aimed at increasing trust in the public broadcaster among Canadians as a whole, with the aim of strengthening support for the company among those who want to abolish the public broadcaster altogether. is also aimed at, government officials said.
Government polls show that while a majority of Canadians support CBC/Radio-Canada and want it to remain, there is also a vocal minority who strongly supports Poilievre’s calls for it to be shut down, officials said. Ta.
Rebuilding trust
“The CBC belongs to everyone, including those who don’t use it every day, don’t say they need it, or even hate it,” the official said.
“Those people need to understand that this place can be trusted, and the changes are designed to strengthen that level of trust.”
The change in mandate also comes after the CBC announced a series of job cuts last year to address revenue shortfalls.
After some employees were laid off, the layoffs were halted after the government injected additional funds into the April federal budget to shore up CBC’s finances.
The federal Liberal government also passed legislation, the Online News Act and the Online Streaming Act, which will force additional fees on major streaming and social media players to support Canada’s news and entertainment ecosystem.
The government is justifying the bill as necessary as advertising dollars shift from traditional platforms such as broadcast TV and cable to social media sites such as Facebook and Google.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascal St. Onge told reporters Tuesday that the CRTC’s decision to require online streaming services to hand over 5% of their domestic revenue will help stimulate investment in Canadian content. said.
These changes are fiercely opposed by the companies, most of them American, that have to pay to support Canadian news and entertainment. Meta removed Canadian News from Facebook and Instagram to avoid paying media companies to link to its content.
The bill has also been criticized by some stakeholders, who say it would make news organizations and journalists subservient to the federal government, but businesses, workers and the unions that represent them. This accusation is strongly denied.