QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Canadian Heritage
CBC/Radio-Canada
December 6, 2023
Minister, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Prince Edward Islanders were very disappointed that CBC Toronto decided to cancel local TV newscasts in P.E.I. Prince Edward Island only has one English‑language television network in the province, and it’s CBC. We were disappointed and surprised, pointing out that CBC, as a condition of their licence, promised to maintain at least seven hours of local programming per week. Another condition of their licence is that they would not change that without approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, following a public process of consultation. None of that happened. Prince Edward Islanders are asking: To whom do we appeal? We were at the beginning of a pandemic; we have a province with a high percentage of seniors and some of the worst rural internet connections in Canada. The information provided by the local CBC News broadcasts was critical. What can you do, minister, to prevent this from happening during the next crisis, and will you instruct the CBC to continue their local broadcasting?
Thank you for the question. It’s important to have a public broadcaster that is strong and economically viable. We know that CBC/Radio-Canada is currently facing economic pressures that are forcing it to make unfortunate decisions.
Of course, one of the key aspects of its mandate is maintaining a local and regional presence. In fact, its mandate is to serve communities, especially in emergencies or situations such as a pandemic.
The CRTC is an independent body that imposes obligations on public broadcasters and dictates their programming hours, as you mentioned. So that would be the right place to submit complaints, and then you can ask the CRTC to consider them.
More broadly, it’s also part of my mandate to review CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate and mission, and to consider how the Canadian government can best support the viability of an independent public broadcaster across the country.
Minister, the CBC, in the view of many Islanders, made an idiotic decision when they cancelled the only local TV broadcaster in the province at the beginning of the pandemic. When we needed it the most for information, they abandoned us. The CBC employees in Prince Edward Island were not asking for that. They said they could carry on and provide the service.
We found out the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, gives a licence with conditions. They have no enforcement of those conditions, and they have no other option but to give CBC the licence. You are the last hope we have to prevent this from happening again during a crisis. In the case of the pandemic, people could have died because of the lack of information. We had local radio and newspapers, but the CBC is the only TV broadcaster in the province.
Minister, can you prevent this from happening again?
You are absolutely right. The things that you mentioned must be part of our public broadcaster’s fundamental role.
From what I understand, CBC/Radio-Canada had to make some difficult decisions because of the financial pressure that it has been under for many years as a result of the decline in self‑generated revenue. That is why we are at a point where we need to consider the future of our public broadcaster and guarantee this essential service for all Canadians.
Canada is a very big country that is very hard to cover. That is part of the broadcaster’s mandate. We definitely need to plan our public broadcaster’s future.
