Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is set to unveil a blueprint for the future of CBC and Radio-Canada on Thursday to underpin the government’s support for the public broadcaster as a Canadian institution, as she prepares to step down as an MP in the next election.
The proposals are expected to emphasize the need for the public broadcaster to continue to support local news, so that every region of Canada, including remote areas, is covered by reporters on the ground.
Ms. St-Onge’s white paper, which comes as the CBC faces Conservative threats to cut its funding, is also expected to reinforce the importance of maintaining French-language as well as Indigenous programming.
The Heritage Minister has argued that the public broadcaster is crucial to preserve, including as an antidote to misinformation and disinformation online.
She has also spoken about the importance of ensuring that all regions of Canada are served, with reporters on the ground, by CBC and Radio-Canada, so there are no news deserts, including in areas where no other media operate.
Her proposals are expected to mirror a draft mandate for CBC and Radio-Canada that the Heritage Department spent months last year working on, and which could be pushed forward by the next leader of the Liberal Party.
Long-held plans to update the CBC mandate before the next election have been derailed by the prorogation of Parliament. A new funding package for CBC/Radio-Canada was also not approved by cabinet before Parliament was prorogued.
Last year, Ms. St-Onge appointed an advisory committee on modernizing the public broadcaster’s mandate, which included Marie-Philippe Bouchard, the new president and chief executive officer of CBC/Radio-Canada.
Updating the CBC’s current mandate would require a change to the Broadcasting Act, which is unlikely given that an election is imminent.
The CBC’s 1991 mandate says the public broadcaster should inform, enlighten and entertain Canadians. But since then, the country’s media landscape, including competition from foreign streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime, has changed dramatically.
Ms. St-Onge’s proposals to shore up the public broadcaster for the future also follow threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to turn Canada into the 51st state.
Ms. Bouchard, in her first public speech last week, which took place weeks after taking the helm, referred to Mr. Trump’s remarks and stressed the importance of maintaining funding for the public broadcaster to help reinforce the distinctiveness of Canadian culture.
The Conservatives have threatened to cut funding for the CBC if they form the next government, while maintaining French services, and have accused the CBC of bias toward the Liberals.
The Liberals in their election platform in 2021 said they would update the CBC’s mandate and wanted to guarantee that its funding was sufficient to ensure it would not have to rely on advertising revenue during news and current-affairs shows. In 2024-2025, it was allocated $1.4-billion in public funds.
But the cabinet has so far not approved extra funding for CBC/Radio-Canada.
During the 2021 general election, the Liberals indicated that they would allocate $400-million over four years to stop CBC from being so reliant on ads. Catherine Tait, then-president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, battled for an increase in funding to cover its costs before her term ended last month.