Prime Minister Carney announces he would provide more funding to CBC if elected

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s latest election campaign promise is that he would provide more funding to CBC/Radio-Canada in order to strengthen Canadian voices and national identity. 

The new Liberal plan seeks to enshrine and strengthen Canadian identity in this time of battling the United States in a trade war. 

“A new Liberal government will never cower to President Trump’s attacks on Canada. In this kind of crisis, protecting Canada’s identity is part of securing Canada,” said Prime Minister Carney.

“With this plan, we will protect a reliable Canadian public forum in a sea of misinformation, so we can tell our own stories in our own languages.”

The Liberal Party of Canada says its plans would address CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate by developing a governance plan, increase support for Canadian arts and culture, fund more journalists and localized bureaus, ensure they are providing adequate programming on emergencies, combat disinformation and investing in new digital tools to enhance their reach. 

When it comes to CBC/Radio Canada’s funding, the Liberals would like to protect their current funding by making it statutory and provide an additional $150 million annually. 

The Liberals biggest rivals, the Conservative Party of Canada have different views on the future of CBC. 

Following this announcement, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was asked about Carney’s promise to fund CBC/Radio-Canada. 

He said that he would “preserve” CBC/Radio-Canada, but also alluded to cuts to CBC’s programming overall. 

“Let’s be clear on this, Mr. Carney has not proposed a single penny in cost reductions in this government,” said Poilievre. 

“[Carney] is now proposing to stack billions more in costs on top of an already morbidly obese government.”

He then proposed budget cuts across the board in Canada. Just last month, Poilievre said he would cut funding to the organization. 

“We have to cut waste in this management, in this country,” said Poilievre. 

“After 10 years of the Carney-Trudeau Liberals, they’ve increased government spending by 80%, they’ve increased the debt by over 100% and much of it has gone to waste. For example, nobody watches CBC television.”

He continued by saying that CBC has some of the worst ratings of any network in the country.