Canada’s taxpayer-funded state broadcaster is once again asking for more public money while finding cash to greenwash its vehicle fleet.

According to a new procurement posting, CBC/Radio-Canada is seeking consultants to help electrify its “mid-size fleet” of approximately 600 vehicles and build EV charging infrastructure at facilities across the country.

The contract request, titled “Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Advisory & Implementation,” outlines plans for a multi-year partnership involving contract negotiations, technical implementation, software configuration, and regulatory reporting tied to the Crown corporation’s electric vehicle rollout.

CBC says it would prefer a single consulting firm to oversee the entire project, though it reserves the right to hand out multiple contracts to different specialists. The arrangement would begin as a one-year retainer agreement with three optional one-year renewals.

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The broadcaster says work would be performed on an “as and when required” basis, with no minimum volume commitment, though consultants would still be required to submit pre-approved hourly estimates before beginning tasks.

Despite receiving roughly $1.4 billion annually in taxpayer funding through parliamentary appropriations, CBC/Radio-Canada has continued to warn about financial pressures while facing declining traditional television audiences and mounting criticism over spending priorities. 

Government documents note that only 65% of Canadians used at least one CBC service in a typical month in 2023-24, while broader trust in CBC fell from 71% to 63% between 2020 and 2024. 

At the same time, streaming-only households in Canada jumped from 23% to 29% in just one year, further eroding the traditional TV market CBC depends on. CBC’s own quarterly reports also showed a $22.4 million loss in the third quarter of 2025-26, despite repeated federal top-ups and subsidy increases over the past decade.