Time for a national conversation about public broadcaster, CBC boss says

MONTREAL – The head of the CBC says it is time to have a national conversation about the public broadcaster’s role within the country’s media environment.

Hubert Lacroix told the Canadian Club of Montreal that Canadians can have their say through an online consultation process launched by CBC starting today.

The CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO says it’s up to Canadians to decide whether they believe in the public broadcaster and to what extent they are willing to support and invest to allow it to carry out its mandate.

Lacroix says his organization has been hit with budget cuts over several years in an era when the “globalization and fragmentation” of the media environment has made uniqueness of the Canadian programming more relevant than ever.

The CBC announced in April it was slashing 657 full-time positions over two years and will no longer pursue broadcast rights to professional sports as it grappled with a budget shortfall.

Lacroix said the state broadcaster will have to revisit its mandate — spelled out in the Broadcasting Act — which was changed last in 1991.

He said that since then, the “media ecosystem” has changed dramatically while there has been a marked discrepancy between level of service it is obliged to provided versus the funding it gets from the federal government.