New CBC head WHINES over Poilievre's pledge to defund broadcaster
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, the new CBC CEO, says it's important for Canadians to have the ‘facts’ on stripping its funding. Meanwhile, Poilievre promised “very quick” follow through to defund.
The new CBC head has renewed concerns on fundraisers aimed at defunding the broadcaster. The Poilievre Conservatives have raised millions on the promise to “remove the gatekeepers” and “cut wasteful spending.”
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, the network CEO, wants a “national conversation” on calls to defund, and is launching a tour to gauge how Canadians feel.
She told the Canadian Press that doubling down on the promise would affect the “cultural and journalistic perspective” and “how Canadians face the world today.”
Conservative MPs have routinely called to sell off the broadcaster’s Toronto headquarters, as well as the Montreal offices for Radio-Canada, its French-language programming arm.
Efforts to defund the CBC have gained steam in recent months, according to a private email by Catherine Tait, the former president and CEO of the state broadcaster.
“Sadly,” Tait wrote, “the ‘defund’ narrative has picked up momentum — especially as it relates to CBC television. I believe the industry must rally if we are to secure Canadian-owned production for the future.”
For fiscal year 2023/24, CBC and Radio-Canada received $1.44 billion from taxpayers — its main revenue source — while generating $493.5 million in revenue. That’s up nearly 50% since 2014, amid recent requests to double funding by Tait.
According to Blacklock’s, she earlier wrote to Poilievre in September of 2023 to dismiss a profitable “fundraising ploy” to defund the state broadcaster. He returned fire, calling the Crown corporation a “mouthpiece for Justin Trudeau.”
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre says he'll cut the CBC's budget since "they waste an enormous amount of money."
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 22, 2022
"Governments should only do what the market cannot do."
See all of our coverage at https://t.co/jlM5NR0KDO pic.twitter.com/fgCxRsv5zD
Bouchard said it's important for Canadians to have the ‘facts’ on stripping its funding, on the back of Poilievre promising “very quick” follow through to defund.
That includes “discussions about tariffs, discussions about maybe territorial claims by the new American president,” claimed the former Québec TV executive.
Meanwhile, the Tories continue to campaign on defunding the broadcaster as part of a 2021 election promise. Direct federal funding for all newsrooms “undermines press freedom and trust in [the] media,” wrote party officials.
“Cutting a billion dollars out of the CBC appropriation would cripple both English and French services,” Bouchard said. “It’s not possible mathematically to come to the conclusion that you can siphon out a billion dollars … and think that we can remain intact.”
Poilievre argued the English media market in Canada can sustain itself without a state broadcaster, though the same cannot be said for the French-language market. “Let the media make money by winning eyeballs and earlobes like it should be in a free country,” he said.
CBC managers object to critical media coverage on broadcaster's lucrative executive bonuses
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 5, 2025
Internal CBC emails obtained by Blacklock's Reporter show managers at the public broadcaster complaining about other media companies' reporting on their bonus program.
On last night's… pic.twitter.com/RQeURmTHgW
The Conservatives have also attacked the state broadcaster over executive bonuses, which Bouchard did not address in her remarks.
“I think the bigger issue is that we made a promise as an organization that we would look at our performance pay program based on expert advice, and that we would come to a determination ... how to go forward, and that is the short-order issue that I want to get at,” she said.
The CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors approved over $18.4 million in bonuses for some 1,200 employees, managers and executives last fiscal year, despite eliminating hundreds of jobs. Tait all came under fire for not ruling out a bonus for herself, amid financial woes.
“I will be discussing with the board what is the way forward, to consider all the elements and come up with a plan,” Bouchard confirmed.
The CBC should be defunded for three reasons, says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, citing egregious executive bonuses, declining viewership, and dwindling accountability to taxpayers.
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) January 2, 2025
MORE: https://t.co/KH9xhEM0s4 pic.twitter.com/FhfHDwfBDB
She also questioned whether it would help Canada to take away “that component of our identity.”
Tait, before her exit from the role, told CBC News that calls to scrap the institution are concerning, as it's been a part of the country’s “cultural fabric” for almost 90 years.
Bouchard told the Canadian Press she’s “not sure” Canadians are having that conversation “at the level that we should be having at this point,” given the country is at the precipice of a snap election.
Her tour, set to begin in Western Canada, will engage business and civic leaders, industry representatives, CBC audiences and employees on the network’s role moving forward.

Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

COMMENTS
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2025-01-30 20:06:08 -0500Oh, dear….. expecting the CBC to do more with less money and, worse, be accountable for how it’s spent. We can’t have that, now can we?
I gave up listening to the CBC years ago and stopped watching it well before that. I don’t miss it in the least. -
Bruce Atchison commented 2025-01-30 18:23:12 -0500As usual, CBC thinks it’s providing a service to citizens. If so, why such low numbers of viewers and listeners? Let those who want CBC programming fund it.