A Conservative MP has deleted a video where she said a case could be made to keep not only Radio-Canada but radio programming at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Kerry-Lynne Findlay, the party’s chief Opposition whip, released a roughly eight minute video on Thursday outlining its long-standing promise to defund the Crown corporation, which receives roughly $1 billion in annual funding from Parliament.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s vow to slash its funding is one of his most popular promises among supporters and is often used by the party to fundraise. At rallies, his cry to “defund the CBC” earns some of the loudest cheers.
Poilievre has, however, maintained that he believes there is a role for public broadcasting when it comes to serving Francophone communities, which it currently does through Radio-Canada, the French-language service of the national broadcaster.
In her now-deleted video, Findlay outlines many of the familiar concerns Conservatives have with the CBC, including how much money it has in terms of real estate as well as in production equipment, saying “it’s time for a real review of the broadcaster” to assess its value to taxpayers.
The B.C. representative points to the corporation paying out bonuses to executives, despite announcing plans last year to slash hundreds of jobs. Findlay also touched on its history, arguing that because “every Canadian can be their own broadcaster” the need for a national one to unify the country is no longer necessary.
“Let’s talk about the radio part of all this for a moment,” Findlay says at one point in the slickly-produced video, filmed in what appears to be West Block on Parliament Hill.
“Because radio is very low production cost and the CBC radio programs and Radio-Canada, they do still serve a purpose, particularly in smaller communities and I think (are) fairly well listened to, so I think there can be a case made to keep that,” she said.
Poilievre has not directly said the same when it comes to radio programming.
Reached for comment on Thursday, his spokesman Sebastian Skamski said nothing had changed in terms of the party’s plan for the broadcaster.
“A common sense Conservative government will defund the CBC, which acts as Justin Trudeau’s personal propaganda arm, while preserving funding to ensure Francophone Canadians continue to receive news services,” he said in a statement.
“Nothing has changed regarding our policy on defunding the CBC.”
Findlay also issued her own statement, saying she fully supports “Poilievre’s common sense commitment to defund the CBC while ensuring Francophone news services are maintained.”
Shortly after the National Post asked about her statement on preserving CBC radio programs, the video was removed.
“An incorrect version of this video was posted in error,” said Colin Munro, a spokesman in her office.
“We will be removing this version of the video and replacing it with the correct one.”
A spokesman for the corporation said it had nothing to say, given the video had been removed.
It has previously said in order to only fund French-language services, the country’s Broadcasting Act would need to change, as it currently requires the corporation to provide programming in both official languages.
-With an additional report from The Canadian Press
National Post
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