Bernier calls for overhaul of ‘frozen in time’ CBC

OT TAWA • Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier is promising to overhaul CBC/Radio-Canada — an institution he says “seems frozen in time” — by cutting hundreds of millions in funding, streamlining its mandate and getting it out of the advertising market.

Bernier says CBC/RadioCanada “should stop doing three-quarters of what it still does” that private broadcasters are already doing, including running game shows and cooking programs, sports programming, music streaming and a website devoted to opinion journalism.

It also needs to stop “unfairly” competing with struggling private media in a shrinking advertising market, he says.

With a media landscape that now includes hundreds of channels and millions of sources of information and culture, “CBC/Radio-Canada seems frozen in time,” he said.

“It tries to occupy every niche, even though it doesn’t have and will never have the means to do so, with the result being lower-quality programming,” Bernier told reporters.

“With my proposal, CBC/ Radio-Canada will stop competing unfairly with private media, and will be more respectful of the taxpayers that help fund it. It will also become a more relevant public institution, helping to reinforce our culture and our national identity.”

Bernier said that CBC/ Radio-Canada, in an attempt to stay relevant, reinterprets its mandate every few years.

If elected Conservative leader and prime minister, Bernier is promising to:

Refocus the corporation’s mandate toward more programming that contributes to Canadian consciousness and identity, reflects all regions, and the needs of various language communities and the multicultural nature of Canada. To do so, he would make changes to the Broadcasting Act. A more focused CBC/Radio-Canada, he says, should offer more quality public affairs programs that are not all based in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal; and

Ensure CBC/Radio-Canada gets out of the advertising market, at a time it is drawing critical advertising dollars away from private media outlets that have cut millions in spending and laid off hundreds of people.

To replace lost advertising revenue — which amounted to roughly $250 million last year — the CBC would have to rely on sponsorships from corporations and foundations, as well as donations from viewers and listeners (similar to PBS and National Public Radio in the U.S.).