Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge will announce changes to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada some time in the next four weeks after conducting a review into its mandate. A senior Canadian government official said to CBC News on Thursday it is finishing up producing major legislative and regulatory changes to ensure CBC/Radio-Canada is best prepared for the future as it deals with major developments in the media scene. In the CBC reforms that will be announced soon, the official said the new CEO is expected to be included in them. CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Catherine Tait’s term is scheduled to end in January. While the mandate changes will deal with long-term funding, the official said this part has not been finalized. At the moment, he said the Canadian government is weighing the best source for its funding while providing it with a new mandate that could require more resources. Since St-Onge will be stepping back to take some parental leave, he pointed out the changes will be announced in October or early November. CBC’s current mandate was produced in 1991 and is set out in law in the Broadcasting Act. However, it has not changed since the internet became popular. St-Onge said Canada needs “a strong public broadcaster that connects and informs us coast to coast to coast.”“I am looking forward to soon announcing important steps that will help modernize CBC/Radio-Canada,” she said to CBC News.“This is what we committed to Canadians and what Canadians expect.”Like most of the journalism industry, she said it is dealing with a significant decline in commercial revenue because of foreign technology companies taking over the advertising market. “As a government, we are working toward strengthening our independent public broadcaster,” she said. A CBC/Radio-Canada spokesperson said it was ready to hear the ideas St-Onge has proposed. “We look forward to hearing the results of the minister's work,” said the spokesperson to CBC News. The official went on to say the new CBC CEO will be a changemaker who wants to do journalism differently. “This person could feasibly be a key player in whether CBC lives or dies at some point,” he said. He was alluding to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre calling for the CBC to be defunded and preserve certain parts of Radio-Canada if he becomes prime minister. While the Canadian government has defended the CBC, Poilievre said Canadians can get news, sports, and entertainment from private companies and that English Canada does not need a public broadcaster anymore. Rather than spend money on it, he said it could be better spent elsewhere and has vowed to convert its offices in Toronto and Ottawa into housing. Poilievre has advocated for people to sign a petition the Conservatives started to defund the CBC. “I can’t wait to defund the CBC and sell off the headquarters for housing,” he said..CBC/Radio-Canada said in its annual report it received about $1.3 billion in federal funding in 2023 and created about $515 million in its own revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and investments. St-Onge said on September 12 she would love to have a conversation about the CBC in a video series she will be rolling out..WATCH: Heritage minister kicks off video series about CBC .While the CBC has been criticized for its coverage, she said most Canadians grew up with it. “One politician clearly missed out,” she said.
