Submitted by Kevin Desjardins, President and CEO, Canadian Association of Broadcasters

As Parliament returns this fall, Canada’s political conversation looks considerably different than it did even a year ago.

Questions of economic sovereignty, resilience and Canada’s relationship with the United States have moved to the centre of the national agenda. Governments and businesses are thinking differently about what Canada needs to build and sustain at home, where we have become too dependent on foreign companies and markets, and how public policy can strengthen Canadian institutions.

Canada’s broadcasters belong squarely in that conversation.

A sovereign country needs the ability to tell its own stories, report its own news and connect its own communities. Every day, Canada’s private broadcasters provide that capacity — operating newsrooms, providing trusted local information and emergency alerts, showcasing Canadian artists and stories, and connecting communities across the country.

That is why the Canadian Association of Broadcasters enters the fall parliamentary session with a clear objective: to ensure that strengthening Canadian broadcasting is understood as part of strengthening Canada itself.

Turning recognition into action

The federal government has increasingly recognized the extraordinary pressures facing Canadian news and broadcasting. But recognition must now translate into lasting policy.

CAB’s pre-budget submission identifies three practical measures the federal government can take.

First, government should implement the promised extension of the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit to broadcast news organizations in a fair and equitable manner that reflects how modern radio and television newsrooms operate.

Second, Ottawa should buy Canadian media, including a commitment to direct at least 70 per cent of federal advertising expenditures to Canadian-owned radio, television, print and digital media. If government purchasing power can be used strategically to strengthen Canadian industries and workers, the same principle should apply to Canadian media.

Third, Canada’s tax rules need to catch up with the digital marketplace. The Income Tax Act should no longer provide a tax advantage for advertising purchased from foreign internet-delivered media while Canadian broadcasters and publishers operate under different rules.

Together, these measures would strengthen Canadian companies, jobs and journalism while helping preserve the media institutions that contribute to Canada’s economic, cultural and democratic sovereignty.

Modernizing regulation for today’s marketplace

Canada’s broadcasting policy objectives remain important: supporting Canadian stories, strengthening local news and sustaining a vibrant cultural sector. But achieving those objectives in a global digital marketplace requires regulation that is modern, flexible and proportionate to today’s realities.

Over time, layers of rules, reporting requirements and administrative processes have accumulated, creating complexity and burden for Canadian broadcasters that are increasingly competing against large international platforms with far fewer regulatory obligations.

As Canada continues modernizing its broadcasting framework, CAB will advocate for a smarter approach: regular reviews of legacy regulations, greater emphasis on outcomes rather than prescriptive rules, and more efficient and predictable regulatory processes. A simpler, more adaptive system can reduce unnecessary burden while continuing to achieve the cultural and public-policy objectives at the heart of the Broadcasting Act.

Fairness must extend to foreign streamers

That same principle of modernization and fairness must guide implementation of the Online Streaming Act.

Canadian broadcasters have spent decades investing in Canadian programming, creators and news while meeting extensive regulatory obligations. Foreign streaming companies have built enormous businesses in Canada without carrying comparable responsibilities.

Modernizing the Broadcasting Act was supposed to begin correcting that imbalance.

As implementation continues, and as Canadian cultural policy increasingly becomes entangled with Canada-U.S. trade relations, CAB will continue making the case that Canada cannot build a sustainable broadcasting system by imposing significant obligations on Canadian companies while giving their largest foreign competitors a substantially easier ride.

That includes ensuring that news remains central to the new framework.

Private broadcasters invested more than $630 million in news programming in 2025, more than any other media sector. Yet conventional private television has accumulated almost $2.4 billion in losses over the past decade, while local radio stations have closed and another 170 more are considered at risk of closing.

The question isn’t whether Canadians continue to need local journalism. The question is whether public policy will create an environment in which Canadian companies can continue paying for it.

Making the case — together

CAB’s work this fall will take place on several fronts.

We will engage ministers, parliamentarians and senior officials as the government develops Budget 2026. We will advocate for commitments already made to Canadian broadcasters, participate actively in regulatory proceedings shaping the future of the broadcasting system, and make our industry’s case publicly as questions of sovereignty, trade and economic resilience increasingly intersect with broadcasting policy.

But CAB cannot make that case alone.

Members know better than anyone what their stations and services mean to their communities: the people they employ, the local stories they tell, the Canadian artists and creators they support, and the information they provide when their communities need it most.

As Parliament resumes, we are asking CAB members to bring that story directly to MPs across the country.

CAB has developed a new MP outreach template that members can customize with local information. It highlights the role Canadian-owned media plays in supporting jobs, local news and cultural sovereignty and identifies three concrete actions parliamentarians can champion. Those messages are also reflected in our new “Three Ways” advocacy leave-behind, available to members from the CAB.

We encourage members to use these tools as a starting point: reach out to your MP, invite them to your station, introduce them to your team and show them what Canadian broadcasting contributes to their community.

A conversation between an MP and a broadcaster from their own riding can reinforce the national case in a way that no submission from Ottawa can replicate.

There will be consequential decisions made in Ottawa over the coming months. At a moment when Canada is asking how to build greater capacity at home, Canadian broadcasting offers something no foreign platform can replace: Canadian institutions, employing Canadians, telling Canadian stories and reporting Canadian news to Canadian communities.

CAB will be making that case in Ottawa this fall.

We invite our members to help us make it in every community across the country.