Honourable colleagues, I’m pleased to take part in this debate raised by Senator Cardozo to draw the attention of the Senate and Canadians to the future of CBC/Radio-Canada.

As we know, the current government has announced its intention to review the public broadcaster’s mandate. On May 13, the Minister of Heritage appointed seven multimedia experts to provide strategic advice on the public broadcaster’s governance, funding and mandate.

This re-examination comes at a time when the Conservative opposition is pledging to cut CBC funding and turn its Toronto headquarters into housing. To be honest, I don’t think the time is right for a major overhaul of our public broadcaster. A pre‑election climate is certainly not conducive to addressing the future of our public broadcaster, an institution that is so important to Canadian culture and democracy.

CBC/Radio-Canada plays such an important role in the media ecosystem that I’d rather see a review of its mandate take place when cooler heads prevail. That said, I don’t deny that the Crown corporation has its own particular challenges. As we all know, times are tough for broadcasters, both private and public, because of platform proliferation, audience fragmentation and the erosion of the advertising base.

I’ll start by saying a few words about CBC/Radio-Canada’s funding. First of all, let’s acknowledge that debates over the relevance of public broadcasters and how much funding they should get are happening everywhere, even in Europe. With a touch of humour, Pierre-Jean Benghozi, a researcher with the French national centre for scientific research and professor at the École Polytechnique in Paris, put it this way:

When things are going well for public broadcasters, we wonder why we fund them. And when things aren’t going well, we also wonder why we fund them.

This is exactly what our public broadcaster is going through, with some people asking, “Why should we fund Radio-Canada programs if they’re so popular?” Still others are asking, “Why should we fund CBC programs when they’re not being watched?” When we compare the funding of Canada’s public broadcaster with that of other countries, $33 per capita per year is not excessive, compared with $79 in France, $149 in Germany and $68 in Japan.

The Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel tabled the Yale Report in 2020. It outlined a number of possible solutions for strengthening our national public broadcaster. With regard to funding, the Yale Report emphasized the need for long-term funding for at least five years. The report also proposed a process of ongoing discussion to establish a new funding formula commensurate with the new responsibilities to be entrusted to CBC/Radio-Canada.

The most interesting idea in the Yale Report, for me, was its proposition to:

 . . . gradually eliminate advertising on all platforms over the next five years, starting with news content.

The advantage of this recommendation is that it would free up advertising revenues for the public sector and enable the Crown corporation to free itself from commercial imperatives and refocus on the fundamental character of the public broadcaster, which involves innovating, taking risks and providing content and services that aren’t offered by the private sector.

We understand that CBC/Radio-Canada management has never been fond of that idea, worried as it is that, one day, a government might cut its parliamentary appropriations, which would leave the public broadcaster with no alternative source of revenue. However, I think that this option should be seriously considered since it would also require clarifying the nature of CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate so that innovation and the broadcasting of relevant content would take precedence over choosing content designed to please the masses. Over the past 10 years, with the media crisis, I think that we’ve evolved and that we’ve gained a better understanding of the value of news and content. We understand that not everything can be free and that we have to pay for quality.

Most Canadian households pay to subscribe to an online newspaper or to access one or more digital broadcasting platforms. When we compare the $33 per capita per year that our public broadcaster costs us to the monthly cost of various digital platforms, we quickly realize that there may be room for more public funding for CBC/Radio-Canada.

CBC/Radio-Canada is particularly important at a time when the news media is going through an unprecedented crisis and many journalism jobs have been cut. That is extremely worrisome from a democratic point of view because news media play a democratic role in scrutinizing the work of elected officials and public office holders.

According to an American study, in places where citizens had greater access to local information, voter turnout was higher. Other research has shown that media-produced information promotes political and public engagement.

It’s interesting to note that a study carried out in 1,266 counties in the United States found that the disappearance of local media in certain areas is associated with increased public spending, the rising cost of public tenders and higher compensation for public office holders.

As a former municipal councillor, I can also attest that regional news media encourage citizen participation and help mobilize the public to engage in community projects and address societal issues.

Just as they keep a watchful eye on local politicians, journalists serve decision-makers by informing them of the issues and topics that concern and interest their fellow citizens.

I am such a strong believer in the role of the media in general, and CBC/Radio-Canada in particular, that, in the early 2000s, I worked with unions, local elected officials and civil society to get the Téléjournal back on the air in eastern Quebec in 2010. We prevailed 20 years after Radio-Canada closed its stations in Rimouski, Matane and Sept-Îles in December 1990.

We know how important it is to be careful not to lose this resource. From time to time, we hear of jobs being cut. I think the public is just as alert as it was back then, especially after the blow inflicted on regional news last year when TVA announced that 24 of the Rimouski station’s 30 jobs would be axed, and that regional newscasts would be read from Quebec City only from now on.

In my opinion, the public broadcaster’s other major contribution is the important role it plays in fighting disinformation.

In a world where social networks serve as a major source of information and disinformation, being able to tell the difference between facts and lies is critical for democracies.

This issue is all the more important considering the many recent attempts by foreign entities to spread disinformation in order to destabilize our political systems.

Considering the disinformation flooding our social networks, and the widespread relativism that puts fact and opinion on an equal footing, a credible public broadcaster — staffed by journalists governed by a strict professional code and modern control mechanisms — is essential.

For many Canadians, the CBC/Radio-Canada is a bulwark of quality information.

The organization has its own guide entitled Journalistic Standards and Practices to uphold its commitment to the principles of accuracy, integrity, fairness, impartiality and balance in its journalistic endeavours.

The ombudsman, who is completely independent from management, acts as an appeal authority for complainants who are dissatisfied with responses from information management.

I am sure that Senator Miville-Dechêne, who was the first woman to hold this position in 2007, could speak more eloquently about the parameters put in place by the public broadcaster to ensure the quality of the information.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Senator Cardozo for this opportunity to discuss the future of CBC/Radio-Canada.

Our public broadcaster offers equitable access to quality information and culture to all Canadians, no matter where they live and regardless of their socio-economic situation. This is especially important in a vast and diverse country like Canada, where private media can encounter problems reaching every community equitably and from the same starting point.

Thank you.