Pierre Poilievre says you can count on him to defund CBC if he is elected prime minister.
In an exclusive interview with the Toronto Sun this past week, I had the chance to ask the federal Conservative leader about his promise to take away $1 billion a year from CBC.
CBC has been in the crosshairs of the Conservative Party for years. Stephen Harper used to campaign off CBC’s biased coverage of his government and it always brought in lots of cash.
Poilievre, though, says he will take away CBC’s money even as it still bringing in lots of money for his party.
“Let me ask you about CBC, because it is one of the biggest applause lines at any of your rallies. It’s huge,” I said to Poilievre. “I keep getting asked, do you really think he’s going to do it?”
“I’m going to do it,” Poilievre said, “Very quick.
“I’m going to defund the CBC. That’s my commitment. My commitment has been the same since I first said it at my very first leadership rally in Regina. I said, ‘We will defund the CBC to save a billion dollars.’ That was my commitment then, it’s my commitment now.”
That doesn’t mean shutting down or selling off CBC, it means telling them they will get $1 billion per year less and they can stand on their own two feet. This promise, though, is just for CBC’s English services, it doesn’t apply to CBC’s French service, Radio Canada. Poilievre said there is a common sense reason for that.
“The first principle is this: The government should only do what people can’t do for themselves,” Poilievre said.
“Media can support itself in the English language in the private sector, because there is overwhelmingly a big enough market. Canadians can get English language media in abundance, more than they could ever consume. That is not true in the French language.”
Under this scenario, CBC-Radio Canada would be required by an act of Parliament to focus on French language services with their still impressive $400 million a year subsidy. Meanwhile, English CBC would need to find a new way to pay the bills, including the massive bureaucracy at the top that loves to suck up millions in bonuses each year.
That could see CBC turn to a model similar to PBS where they ask viewers for donations. It could see them decide they need to compete with the likes of CTV and Global.
One thing that would end, that would help private media outlets, CBC would need to stop their decades long practice of undercutting private media outlets on the price of ads. They’ve been able to do this on TV, and now digital, because of their massive subsidy.
Most people don’t realize the harm CBC has done to Canada’s private media landscape for years. When they haven’t been undercutting on ads, they’ve been poaching talent, poaching ideas and paying higher fees or salaries for them, again, because of the subsidy.
They’ve expanded well beyond their mandate to the detriment of the private sector as well.
Did you know that CBC offers a music streaming service for free that competes not only with every private sector music radio station but also services like Spotify and Apple Music. You can jump onto their Top 40 stream and hear the latest songs from Beyonce, Drake, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift.
Now of course while it is free to the user, someone has to pay the artists a fee for streaming their music and that comes from CBC, or more accurately, you the taxpayer.
Why is CBC in this business?
Canadians who think we need CBC to tell Canadian stories clearly don’t watch the state broadcaster. CBC news, when they aren’t repeating talking points from the Trudeau Liberals, is filled with stories about American politics.
Don’t even get me started on CBC’s version of Family Feud.
The truth is fewer and fewer people watch CBC every year, which is why there are more and more people willing to back the idea of defunding the place.
Thankfully it seems we have a leader who is on the verge of becoming the next prime minister, who is willing to take this much needed step.