Gravelbourg & District Tribune

I’ll say it up front. I’m a strong supporter of English radio CBC and French language Radio-Canada.

 

So it’s with sadness that this very important public institution, started by the Conservative Party of Canada, is now under attack by Pierre Poilievre. This came to light during the program called Tout Le Monde En Parle a popular Quebec talk show. Poilievre was an invited quest and was asked why he would defund English CBC but not French language Radio-Canada?  He said there is a lot of news available in English so there is no need for a public broadcaster in English.

 

He didn’t say that during the French or English debates. Apparently getting our news from Fox and CNN is good enough for Poilievre?

 

Why was CBC/Radio-Canada created?

 

The Conservative government of R.B. Bennett recognized that in the 1920s privately owned Canadian stations were falling into American hands. They could not compete with adequate alternative programing that was flooding in from a more populous United States. To make a long story short he established the publicly owned Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) that in 1936 became the Canadian Broadcasting Act that created the current CBC/Radio-Canada that we know today. (Source Canadian Encyclopaedia)

 

Poilievre, like former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, doesn’t know his Canadian history. Like Mulroney he isn’t a true Conservative. Mulroney killed pipelines and sold off Petro Canada and said our biggest neighbour and ally, the U.S., would buy all our oil and raw products. We didn’t need to be self sufficient in our energy needs. The U.S. would always be there for us. That didn't work out so well. Now Poilievre is using the same logic with our media.

 

If R.B. Bennett recognized how serious it was in the 1920s you can bet the situation is worst today. A world of only Fox News and foreign countries using Facebook and Google to spread misinformation is troublesome. We need our voice to counter those lies.

 

Nordicity prepared a study called International Comparison of Public Funding for Public Service Broadcasting in 2018. Out of 20 Western countries, Canada had one of the lowest levels of per capita public funding for its Public Service Broadcasting (PSB). Canada spends $33 per capita while a country like Switzerland spends $187 per capita. The UK spends $104 per capita, Sweden spends $120 per capita and France spends $79 per capita. The average for those 20 Western countries is $88 per capita. Canada is far below that average.

 

The Liberals claim they’ll not touch CBC/Radio-Canada but they are responsible for the biggest cuts ever made to our public broadcaster. Can we trust them?

 

One of those two will form the government so regardless of the outcome it will be challenging for our public broadcaster. Just remember that if we lose CBC/Radio-Canada then we lose our voice on the international stage.

 

Get out and vote.

 

I did find a CBC website with all party policies. This is very well done and easy to read.

 

https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/features/2025/federal-party-platforms/#intro