Downsizing government, increasing defense spending and… Canada's participation in Eurovision?
Among many important items, yesterday's federal budget announced that the government is working with CBC/Radio-Canada to explore the possibility of Canada participating in the annual Eurovision Song Contest, where international singers compete to perform original songs while competing under the country's flag.
Two government sources say Prime Minister Mark Carney is personally involved in the initiative.
The competition mainly showcases European talent and is run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), but is open to any public broadcaster that is a member of the EBU, including those outside Europe. Canada is only an affiliate member, although Australia, another affiliate member, has been participating since 2015.
When CBC News reached out for comment on the possibility of Canadian participation last month, Eurovision said the competition was only open to EBU members.
While news of the budget exit may be encouraging to pageant fans, Canada's participation may not be easy, especially since some have tried to get the country involved before.
Introducing Eurovision in Canada
In 2022, the Toronto-based manufacturing companympany Insight Productions, which created Canadian subsidiaries The Amazing Race And Big Brother — tried to organize Eurovision in Canadawhere Canadian artists will compete and the winner will then be flown to Europe for the final performance.East.
At the time, organizers said the competition would premiere in 2023, featuring artists and groups from all 13 provinces and territories, with an organizer to be announced within weeks.
In a surprise move in the federal government's new budget, Canada will consider participating in the popular Eurovision song contest. What does this mean and why is it important to the government? Journalist and Eurovision expert Karen Fricker explains.
But in the end the idea did not get off the ground.d. After announcing that sending Canadians to a global competition would be a challenge, the team realized that co-chief content officer Lindsay Cox said: told the Canadian press earlier this year. But the company is still trying to bring Eurovision to Canada, she said.
There was also no support from CBC/Radio-Canada, who would have had to participate given the euro.the vision is ultimately carried out by public service broadcasters. CBC withpoker player Chuck Thompson previously told CBC News the broadcaster looked into it and met with company at the time, but ultimately decided it would be “banvery expensive.”
When asked what CBC is nowIn an effort to look into Canada potentially participating in Eurovision, Thompson told CBC News that there was “no information to share on Eurovision at this point.”its time.”
Many Canada won't necessarily hold an expensive televised competition at home to choose a singer to send to Eurovision – the competition's rules allow countries to choose how they choose their artists.
Front burner25:14The colorful political history of Eurovision
However, Dean Vuletich, a historian,Speaking about the history of Eurovision, he says that it is expensive to participate in the competition and do it well: there is an entry fee plus the costs associated with sending people to the show, not to mention what it takes to run it.
Canadian culture and involvement can be challenging
Canadians have a comhas performed at Eurovision under other flags in the past, namely that of Celine Dion, who won the competition for Switzerland in 1988. and also Natasha St-Pierre, who represented France in 2001. And La Sarra in Montrealagain for fr.But the competition isn't very popular in Canada, which could be a barrier to participation, says Karen Fricker, a Brock University professor and Eurovision expert.
“People who are interested in culture know about it. Queer communities know about it,” Fricker said. “Whether there’s enough awareness of this to really gain traction is my biggest question.”
For exampleThat is, in Australia, the singing competition has been broadcast for decades and is firmly ingrained in the country's culture even before it began.“Ed is competitive,” Fricker said.
Moreover, although Eurovision has tried to globalize its brand in recent years, the competition is still a European affair, says historian Vuletic. He says it's possible that competition organizers won't want too many non-European countries to join for fear of the cultural event becoming too globalized.
However, in Global News interviewFinance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the idea for Canada to join the competition came from “the people who are involved,” suggesting Europe may not have many concerns about Canada joining.
There was also an internAll the disagreement is over who should be able to take part in the competition, namely Israel's participation, given its war in the Gaza Strip. Orthe organizers planned a votethis month whenthen Israel should be allowed to competenext year, although there is already because it was postponed.
“So now expanding Eurovision is not really the main goal of the European Broadcasting Union – it is trying to preserve the competition in its current form,” Vuletic said.
Despite the obstacles, Fricker says the federal government's support makes this the most realistic conversation about joining the competition in Canada that has ever been had, and fans can be excited about it.
“It's still speculative, but it's more robust than it has been in the past.”
