Canadian Heritage Min. Pascale St-Onge has released a set of proposed changes aimed at modernizing the objectives, governance and funding of CBC/Radio-Canada, ranging from banishing advertising during news and current affairs programming to ensuring more citizen participation in determining the public broadcaster’s priorities.

The proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Act were released Thursday, with a goal “to reinforce the accountability and reactivity of the Corporation toward Canadians, to ensure its journalistic, creative and programming independence, to strengthen its role as public broadcaster, and to provide it with predictable and stable funding so that it can face future challenges.”

Stable funding

St-Onge is looking to secure a more “stable and predictable” source of funding for the public broadcaster by establishing a statutory appropriation based on an annual per capita formula. Enshrined in an Act of Parliament, unlike a parliamentary appropriation, it would not be voted on annually by Parliament as part of the budget process.

“Per capita funding reflects the idea that access to public service media is a public good. It becomes intrinsically linked to the concept that all citizens have an equal interest in maintaining a robust and independent media sector,” the document stated. “Citizens, as taxpayers, are essentially the stakeholders and owners of the national public broadcaster. A per capita formula would also allow CBC/Radio-Canada funding to grow based on the growth of Canada’s population, thereby guaranteeing that its resources would be proportional to the size of the population it serves.

The minister intends to bring CBC/Radio-Canada’s federal funding in line with the country’s G7 counterparts. Right now, the public broadcaster places sixth among G7 countries at $33.66 per capita, well below the average $62.20 per capita.

The proposal additionally maintains that CBC/Radio-Canada’s dependence on advertising and subscription revenues “risks compromising its objectives of public service, by favouring revenue-generating content to the detriment of the social, cultural and democratic benefits intended in its mandate.”

“To reduce this commercial influence while adding value for Canadians, the Minister would propose prohibiting the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from showing advertising during its news, information and public affairs broadcasts on all its services, and to prevent it from charging subscription fees for its digital services.”

Impartiality

Among St-Onge’s other proposals are to add a specific objective to the Act, stipulating that news, information and public affairs “be created and shared in an impartial way.”

“These modifications would highlight the essential role of CBC/Radio-Canada in the trustworthy and reliable broadcasting of news and information in the fight against prejudices, real or imagined, in today’s media,” the document states.

The minister is also proposing an objective around providing service during emergency situations to “contribute to mitigating risks caused by the circulation of false or misleading information.”

St-Onge is also seeking to reinforce the broadcaster’s mandate to “promote innovation and be readily adaptable to scientific and technological change.”

“The Minister would like to reinforce this objective for CBC/Radio-Canada specifically by stating, with an addition in the Act, that the Corporation must invest in innovative ways to produce and present content that considers cutting edge media technologies. The change would also require that CBC/Radio-Canada shares the gains of these investments with the larger media ecosystem, more specifically other public service media and researchers in the field, in order to support Canada’s broadcasting objectives,” it continued.

Governance changes

Other proposed amendments would see CBC/Radio-Canada’s President and CEO appointed for five years by the Board of Directors, with the board granted authority to extend that term, with a limit of 10 years for all mandates. St-Onge is also proposing enshrining the practice of seeking the opinion of an Independent Advisory Board before making recommendations to the Governor in Council on board and presidential appointments. Further, she would expand the board from 12 to 14 members, with the contingent to “reflect the diversity of Canada and its official languages and that at least two of them they have financial skills, which would be ensured through a professional financial designation requirement.”

“This change would allow aiming towards an ideal of representing each Canadian province and territory, thereby reflecting a recommendation by the Aird Commission in 1929, which led to the creation of CBC/Radio-Canada, under which the Corporation’s management should try to match Canada’s regional diversity.”

St-Onge is supporting public consultation on issues related to the public broadcaster’s corporate priorities and strategies. The amended Act would require CBC/Radio-Canada to indicate in its corporate plans how it satisfies the public consultation requirement, and how that has influenced its decision-making and operations. CBC/Radio-Canada would also be held publicly accountable to jointly develop an accountability strategy in collaboration with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, and integrate those results into the corporation’s activities.

“I hope that these proposals will be implemented swiftly, because these are particularly difficult times, and inaction is not an option,” St-Onge wrote. “As a nation, we must be bold and determined in recognizing that we must protect the institutions that have made us what we are today: a proud, dignified people able to dialogue together, sharing our realities, our debates, our differences and, above all, our commitment to our nation. CBC/Radio-Canada has played this role throughout its long existence. It must continue to do so for generations to come.”

“However, as I write these lines, our sovereignty is being challenged, our cultural integrity is under pressure from foreign digital platforms, even though we have passed laws that demand only one simple thing: that our voices be respected and to give our identity its rightful place in the great technological changes we are undergoing,” she continued. “This is not the time to lack vision and ambition – on the contrary. We must be wary of simplistic rhetoric that seeks to undermine the credibility of an institution that is part of our long and proud history. Supporting our public broadcaster is not a question of left or right, it’s not a Liberal or Conservative issue, it’s above all a commitment to ourselves, our culture and our independence.”

Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) President Kevin Desjardins said St-Onge’s vision includes some important recommendations “to make sure CBC remains focused on its public service mandate.”

“Prohibiting advertising during news and public affairs broadcasts is a good first step, but any increase in the CBC’s funding going forward should be contingent on them exiting the ad business entirely,” said Desjardins in a statement provided to Broadcast Dialogue. “The CBC should complement commercial broadcasters, not compete with them.”

Friends of Canadian Media applauded the changes, saying they align closely with its calls to strengthen the public broadcaster.

“This is the most comprehensive and audacious plan to revitalize the CBC/Radio Canada that we have seen in decades, said Executive Director Marla Boltman. “We thank the Minister for doing the hard work of putting CBC/Radio Canada on the path to providing Canadians with the services they need and want for generations to come.”