Canada’s public broadcaster is at the centre of one of the issues over which federal Conservative leadership hopefuls disagree.
Quebec MP Maxime Bernier announced Wednesday he wants to change the mandate of the CBC to keep them from producing programming better left to the private sector. He also says he would cut funding, but not eliminate it completely, and prevent the CBC from selling advertising. Instead, he proposes they make up the shortfall through fundraising drives, similar to PBS in the United States.
Speaking on CFRA’s Beyond the News with Brian Lilley, Bernier says the CBC’s role needs to be updated.
“We have to rewrite their mandate,” Bernier says. “I don’t want them to do things the private sector is doing. No more sports, no more variety shows. They must do news, they must be all across the country, and they must promote the Canadian identity. I want to refocus the mandate and, like that, they’ll do what they’re supposed to do as a public broadcaster.”
Bernier says, under a new mandate, the CBC won’t be doing three quarters of what they’re doing now.
But Bernier says there is still a place for a public broadcaster in the Canadian media landscape.
“I think we must have one that will play a role where the private sector is not playing that role,” he says. “Radio Canada and CBC are there to promote the French and English in Canada. We are a bilingual country, and I think there’s a role for them.”
One of Bernier’s opponents, Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost, says he wants to privatize the CBC.
Also speaking on Beyond the News, Trost says the media landscape has changed dramatically in the 21st century.
“Welcome to the million-channel universe,” Trost says. “I don’t understand why we need to have a government broadcaster in an era when you can go online, you get your TV online, and you get information from a million places. Maybe it’s not journalism, but you get live-Tweeting. We don’t need to pay someone a billion dollars to tell us what to think.”
Trost has introduced a private member’s bill to sell the CBC, which he expects will up for a vote in February.
“I’m realistic," Trost says. "The NDP are not going to support and the Liberals are not going to support it. I’m putting this out there because it’s something I believe in.”
“The suggestion I have is you require the minister [of Canadian Heritage] to sell it out,” he adds. “I would make some concessions to Canadian nationalists. The majority of the company would have to be owned by Canadians. It would be put out on the stock market because, look, there are assets there; it’s valuable, let’s try to recover some money for the taxpayer.”
The Conservative Party of Canada votes for a new leader in May. There are 12 candidates in the running.