A member of the Progressive Senators Group in the Senate has released a report calling for CBC/Radio-Canada to be declared an “essential service” and outlining recommendations for the public broadcaster to adapt to an evolving media landscape.

On Friday, March 21, Ontario senator Andrew Cardozo issued a 20-page document that looks at the Crown corporation and how best to support it. Drawing from debates in the Red Chamber he calls on the broadcaster to “re-focus” on building Canadian nationhood, being accurate and reliable, and being technologically savvy. Cardozo also says the Government must do its part by keeping the corporation’s budget at current levels. 

The CBC must deal with the perception of bias in its programming, the report stated. In 2010 the broadcaster commissioned a study on bias; Cardozo wants that to become an annual occurrence.

“While generally recognized as being neutral and balanced, at times the public service broadcaster has been accused of bias: too left, too right, too white, too Indigenous, too separatist, too federalist, too central Canada, too woke, too mainstream, or too insensitive,” the report noted.  

Cardozo told The Wire Report that Canadians feel bias is lessened when they see their own communities reflected in CBC coverage. Highlighting the decline of local news in Canada, he called on the broadcaster to increase local programming, putting it on a higher plane than it currently is at the CBC.

“The private sector has abandoned local, and so public media must step in, at least in part,” the report states. “If CBC/Radio-Canada is to operate with limited budgets—at $33 per capita it is funded well below its peers—then it cannot be all things to all people. It must prioritise, and this must be a priority.”

Lastly, the report calls for the corporation to share its content with other broadcasting and media entities. This would help competitors with scarce resources deal with the disinformation and misinformation rampant in public discussions recently. It would also give other outlets access to better content.

“It is after all, produced with public funding,” writes Cardozo.

The senator said he was releasing the study now to get ahead of the expected election call by Prime Minster Mark Carney this Sunday. His report concludes with questions he wants voters to ask their candidates during the campaign.

“I’m putting them out there,” he said. “I hope other people will be asking these questions.”

For the Liberals, Bloc Québécois, New Democrats and Green Party, he wants to know their plans for the future of the CBC and their commitment to long-term funding. All of those parties have expressed their support for the broadcaster.

The Conservatives have threatened to defund the CBC, while keeping Radio-Canada afloat. Cardozo wants to know why English Canadians should be paying to support content they cannot access. This goes against the spirit of the Broadcasting Act and the Official Languages Act, he argues. 

The People’s Party wants to cut money to both linguistic sides of the corporation. Cardozo wants Maxime Bernier’s party to outline the timeframe for slashing federal subsidies.

The Cardozo report comes one month after then-Canadian Heritage Minister Pascal St-Onge (Brome-Mississquoi, Que.) released her recommendations for CBC/Radio-Canada, which includes increasing the corporation’s funding and enshrining it into law. The senator noted that St-Onge was not issuing government policy but merely a list of suggestions. The former minister will not be running in the upcoming election. 

Cardozo told The Wire Report that increased money for the broadcaster would be great but there is little appetite for it in the population at large. He instead calls for CBC/Radio-Canada’s funding to “at least” be maintained at its current level of $1.4 billion per year, indexed to inflation.

“I have rarely sat with anybody who says the federal government is funding them to the extent that they should,” he said. “Virtually everybody believes the federal government is underfunding their sector, whether it’s defence or infrastructure or health care or seniors care.”

Cardozo feels the broadcaster is necessary in the face of disinformation battles in social media and Donald Trump’s campaign against Canadian sovereignty. He shudders at the prospect of billionaires, even one with Canadian citizenship, acting as a gatekeeper to news feeds.

“We’re relying on Elon Musk and X to keep us Canadian. It’s a terrifying thought,” he asserts.

Asked to comment, the CBC tersely replied, “We welcome Senator Cardozo’s interest in the future of a strong public broadcaster for Canadians.”

ppark@thewirereport.ca