Kirk LaPointe: Mr. Poilievre, the CBC must be fixed not nixed

“Defund The CBC” has become our aural Rorschach test. The three words mean what you want them to mean, and raise expectations of what they will mean.

The person making the most of this, our likeliest next prime minister, is letting us hear what we want to hear without straightening us away on which meaning he might pursue.

After all this time, after all this implied threat, Pierre Poilievre still gets the loudest cheer from his rallies when he calls for defunding. His Conservative Party still experiences a nice fund bump when that three-word call goes out. It’s a political winner for the time being, but perhaps not over time.

We’re most likely inside a year now to the federal election, and what should be a major plank in what a Conservative government would do remains blurry—it appears its best possible purpose is to be left vague.

We know that the day after the swearing-in, the screen won’t go black, the radio stations won’t be silenced, and the website won’t yield a 404 error. But what? What exactly is Defund The CBC going to really be?

Is it about withdrawing the total $1.4 billion in annual public funds for the service?

Is it the most obvious surgery, eliminating CBC’s English services but not the French Canadian Radio-Canada?

Is it about cutting English-language TV, but not CBC Radio or CBC North?

Is it about cutting CBC News, but nothing else?

Is it to kill The National but leave local news alone?

Is it a forceful nudge of the public broadcaster into becoming a subscription service, like its News Network and ICI RDI, rather than largely taxpayer-funded?

Is it a vow to privatize it?

Is it to require its television services to be commercial-free to assist private-sector TV desperate for advertisers?

The time has come to tell us, Mr. Poilievre; to bring substance to an election issue about which many will want to debate—from those who hold it dear to those who hold it in contempt.

Many Canadians appear to have two jobs: our own and that of being president of the CBC. We think we know what it needs: news that validates our opinions, (intentionally) funnier comedies, dramas to rival the BBC or PBS Masterpiece theatre, sports to complement the private networks, mind-blowing culture—really, almost anything we’re not getting now. When we get a whiff of the impoverished ratings, we play CBC president for a few minutes to administer our medicine we’re convinced would mend the ailing public broadcaster patient. We know we could do a better job.

I’ve worked there twice, as a host on the News Network for six years and as ombudsman for a couple of years. And to imitate the snappy parlance of the Conservative leader, I’m more of a “fix it, don’t nix it” person.

One of my former bosses at CBC had a line: “Trouble has a way of finding the CBC. You don’t need to go looking for it.” That helps frame its internal culture—one part believing it invented journalism and Canadian serial programming that no one has improved upon since, another part defensive,  protective, and allergic to criticism.

But, having managed CTV News for a bit and local media for a longer bit, and having kept up with the crews in the newsrooms, CBC’s journalism is generally—but not always—considered in rival newsrooms the most substantial and reflective broadcasting Canadians have in their markets. It generally—but not always—makes its competitors grudgingly better, even as the private broadcasters grouse about the galling gulf between their newsroom resources and the public broadcaster’s, even as their tax dollars are used against them. Taking this away is needlessly high-risk.

My own interpretation of “Defund The CBC” leads me to believe there are only two targets for the Conservative leader—English-language news and Canadian entertainment programming. These elements ignite the biggest charge. Neither is beyond remediation.  Neither’s problems should be the reasons for snuffing the place. But, admittedly, it would take some work, and anyone who has never liked the CBC probably doesn’t think it’s worth it to try.

If I can put on my CBC presidential hat for a few paragraphs. I have a couple of ideas to curtail the most visceral complaints.

First, let’s turn CBC into the only national broadcaster of Canadian entertainment content. But let’s finance that content differently.

Private broadcasters view their license requirements for Canadian content as a cost of complying, not a cost of commitment. Here’s one proposal: strip their Canadian content broadcasting requirements and let them run what they wish, from anywhere. However, sustain their Canadian content spending requirements and make them produce Canadian content to run it on CBC, which would become a fully Canadian carrier. (I’m agnostic on grandfathering Coronation Street.)

If you’re concerned about tanking—that terrible Canadian shows would emerge when there isn’t advertising revenue as skin in the game for the private stations—send the commercial cash back to the privates. Find an incentive in there for them for quality, and keep the door open for the streaming services to be the first window and CBC the second, rather than the other way around.

Presumably tax dollars are saved when CBC is no longer a direct entertainment producer, just a distributor, and presumably this improves the private-sector business model by permitting CTV and Global to run more profitable foreign programming, and shifting the domestic shows elsewhere, principally to the public channel.

Now the second piece. The news dilemma is more complex because it’s not only about ratings—although they are horrid on TV—but about a subjective animus from conservatives about CBC’s editorial menu. They do have a point, but shuttering CBC News would be a major mistake for the country without first exhausting efforts to address their concerns.

CBC Radio, in particular, remains popular in major markets in this country. It beats the pants off the private stations. We won’t improve our discourse by removing a major actor, and we won’t improve the Canadian information environment if we take away a comparably well-resourced outlet in a time of news deserts and flimsy local media.

We should be wary that survival of a news organization would be in the hands of partisans from the government of the day. One reason we have a public broadcaster at all is to create an independent institution that runs clear of politicization. There is no legitimacy to the killing of a nearly 90-year institution in your first 90 days, or because the slogan worked at 90 rallies. Worse, it’s not great politics; it would be an unnecessary irritant to far too many Canadians and it hands an election issue of some value to opponents.

There are many possible remedies to be tried before throwing in the towel: an oversight body to strengthen and enforce news standards (as there are in other countries successfully), a tougher mandate for its ombudsperson to respond to the public (as there also are in other countries successfully), and a demonstrable recruiting commitment to diversity in perspectives of its journalists. Like many media, CBC can suffer from affinity bias; it ought to be the only place where we can count on ideologies commingling.

Now, while I’m against Defund The CBC, I’m not altogether for Defend The CBC. CBC has never been perfect.  It makes mistakes. Its current state might be its hottest mess, and it leans far too heavily on its history at times as its principal defence. So I ask myself: Would we create it from scratch today? Given what we are seeing now from private-sector broadcasters, whose business models are rupturing as they jettison creative talent, I think it could occupy a valuable space, particularly as a streaming service.

Despite its basket of problems, it has a bushel of benefits to help Canadians  understand and argue with one another. Its parliamentary appropriation amounts to less than a dollar a week per person. When it works, it’s a bargain.

Even if my ideas aren’t useful, CBC needs to find some useful forms of renewal from the government of the day, not be removed from the public sphere. It also deserves a first-rate cabinet minister, not the waystation indifference of the current administration’s appointment.

The Conservatives created the CBC in 1936 as an instrument for Canadians to appreciate each other and the wider world. For a large cohort that remains the case. Simply defunding it or axing it in full without trying to right the ship might momentarily satisfy some anger about its direction, but ultimately is a fuzzy dismissal that dishonours its accomplishments. The CBC’s place in Canada deserves a lively debate before it bears a fatal directive.