By Canadian Press

Poilievre’s pitch to defund CBC while keeping French services would need a law change

Apr 13, 2023 | 10:52 AM

OTTAWA — If Pierre Poilievre wants to “defund the CBC” while maintaining its French-language programming, he’ll have to overhaul the country’s broadcasting law in order to do it. 

That’s according to the corporation, which has found itself in a back-and-forth with the Opposition leader over his pledge to axe the roughly $1-billion in taxpayer dollars it receives annually.

Past Conservative leaders have also taken aim at the Crown corporation, which receives its share of public money through Parliament when MPs vote on its federal budget. 

Poilievre’s pitch to strip the corporation of its public funding is wildly popular among Conservatives and crowds who packed rooms to see him during last year’s leadership campaign, when his promise of defunding the CBC earned some of the loudest cheers. 

But he has also suggested support for Radio-Canada’s French services, and when asked for comment on how he reconciles those two things, his office pointed to a media interview in which he suggested keeping a level of support for services tailored for francophone minorities.

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In the interview, Poilievre said the only justification for having a public broadcaster is to provide content the private market does not, which is not the case for its English services. 

That, however, appears easier said than done. 

In a statement, CBC/Radio-Canada said that funding only Radio-Canada and not CBC “would change the very nature of how programs and services are funded in Canada to target public money at only one language group.” 

A spokesman says doing so would require the Broadcasting Act, the law outlining its mandate, “to be rewritten.” 

That law currently requires the corporation provide programming in both French and English, and it does not give the government sway over how resources are allocated to accomplish that.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2023. 

The Canadian Press