New CBC manager wants ‘National Conversation’ about DeFunding TV -Station

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Ottawa – With US President Donald Trump, who makes “territorial claims,” ​​the new leader of CBC says that defunding of the public television company can erode a pillar in Canada’s cultural identity.

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Marie-Philippe Bouchard, CEO of CBC Radio-Canada, calls for a “national conversation” about the conservative promise to reject, and launch a tour to get it started.

She came up with the comments in a broad interview with the Canadian press, which is covering abolition, controversy about executive bonuses and CBC’s digital offerings.

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Bouchard said it is important for Canadians to be equipped with facts about the probable effects of removing CBC’s financing for English -language services.

She said they should consider how it would affect “not only the service we provide, but also existence, sometimes the viability, of a lot of other pieces of our economy from a cultural and journalistic perspective, and how it would help Canadians, When facing the world today. “

It includes “Discussions about Customs, Discussions on perhaps territorial claims from the new US president.”

She questioned whether it would help Canada remove “the component of our identity.”

Bouchard said she is also “not sure we have the conversation at the level we should have at this time as we progress against an election in 2025.”

When asked if she plans to start that conversation, Bouchard said she is performing on a production of the production industry later this week. “It’s the first piece of the plan to initiate these conversations,” she said.

Then Bouchard Western Canada is touring to engage in business and bourgeois leaders, industry representatives, CBC audience and employees.

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She said the conservative promise to cut a billion dollars from CBC’s government financing and maintain only Francophone News would not work because there would not be enough money left to run a viable French-linguistic service.

“To cut a billion dollars out of the CBC grant would ruin both English and French services,” she said. “It is not possible mathematical to come to the conclusion that you can wipe out a billion dollars … and think we can remain intact.”

Bouchard said there are other people she expects to take in a public stance on the impact of dismissal. “It is to some extent a matter of values, but it is also a matter of concrete influence, financially and otherwise.”

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Inge recently said Elon Musk’s “interference” in politics and recent changes to Meta to eliminate fact control makes the promise of rejecting even more consequence.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said in a recent conversation with Toronto Sun that he would be “very quick” to follow his promise if he was elected government.

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He argued that the English media market in Canada is large enough to maintain itself without a public TV company, but that is not true of the French-language market.

“Let the media make money by winning the eyeballs and earlobes, as if it should be in a free country,” he said.

By 2023-24, CBC/Radio-Canada received $ 1.44 billion from the federal government and generated $ 493.5 million in revenue.

Damien Kurek, the conservative critic of Canadian heritage, said in a statement on Wednesday that Poilievre has had a “national conversation” with Canadians to dismiss CBC for years.

“Conservatives with common sense will reject the CBC while retaining funding to ensure that Francofon -Canadians continue to receive news services,” Kurek said.

The Conservatives have also attacked the public TV company over executive bonuses.

The CBC/Radio-Canada board approved over $ 18.4 million in bonuses for nearly 1,200 employees, managers and managers for the 2023-24 financial year after the TV station eliminated hundreds of jobs. Bouchard’s predecessor, Catherine Tait, came under fire over the subject, including not to exclude a bonus himself.

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In the interview, Bouchard did not say she would refuse to accept a bonus and said the conversation has not been about her.

She said the question “comes to a conclusion in the next few months” when she receives the report on an independent study that was ordered on the question.

“I want to discuss with the board of directors what is the way forward to consider all the elements and come up with a plan.”

When asked why she would not proactively refuse a bonus to empty the criticism, Bouchard said she wants to get to the “root of the problem.”

“I think the bigger question is that we promised as an organization that we would look at our performance pay program based on expert advice and that we would come to a determination … how to move on and that is it short order problem that I will come to. “

CBC has invested in digital offers such as its CBC Gem Service to offset the industry-enhancing fall in traditional TV spread.

Bouchard said it is important to make sure these services meet their expectations such as having a flexible model where those who look free are served to get a flexible model where those who look at free are served for To ensure that these services meet their expectations, such as having a flexible model where those who look free have.

“It’s also important to give them an environment that is personal,” she said.

“It’s a question about the quality of the experience we offer, and we want to keep up to date with other platforms that give viewers the flexibility.”

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