The Bloc Québécois regrets that the federal government's new $150 million investment in CBC/Radio-Canada is not subject to any strings attached, particularly access to the advertising market.
“They missed the boat,” condemns Bloc MP and vice-president of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, Martin Champoux.
The budget presented by Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday allocates $150 million in additional funding to the Crown corporation for the 2025-26 fiscal year “to strengthen its mandate to serve the public and better meet the needs of the Canadian people.”
The Bloc says it has no problem with overhauling CBC/Radio-Canada's funding. However, before paying such a sum, the government had to ensure that “the review of the mandate of the public broadcaster is completed, that it no longer needs to resort to selling advertising or subscriptions to some of its platforms,” says Martin Champoux.
Ottawa doesn't do enough for large private media outlets, he adds. “Radio Canada can't broadcast culture. We need TVA, Noovo and even public television.”
“They're going to hire people.”
Separately, during two media appearances on Wednesday, Cogeco Media and Quebecor expressed disappointment at Ottawa's lack of support for private media. First, Pierre Carl Péladeau does not understand the investment in CBC/Radio-Canada.
“On the one hand, we want to cut the number of government employees, but on the other hand, we give $150 million. What do you think they are going to do with $150 million? They are going to hire people,” says one who is fighting for the survival of the TVA.
“We have members of Quebec parliament in leadership positions who need to be sensitive to this difference that exists in Quebec when we compare ourselves to the rest of Canada, because of the French language and the historical strength of our media.”
Maintain pressure
The President of the National Federation of Communications and Culture (FNCC-CSN), Annick Charette, is very pleased with this investment.
“We are at the bottom of civilized societies that are investing in their national media. There is a small bonus that may give Rad-Can a real role in the national media,” she says.
But with newspaper cuts and disappearances becoming commonplace in the private sector, she says it will be necessary to keep the pressure on Ottawa.
“We commissioned a study on the number of cultural and information workers who have lost their jobs, especially in the media sector, and there are as many of them as in the automotive sector,” says M.to me Basket.
At the time of writing, CBC/Radio-Canada had not responded to interview requests from Magazine.
In collaboration with TVA Nouvelles.
