CBC President Catherine Tait denounced Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for inciting attacks on the news outlet. .“There’s a lot of CBC bashing going on — somewhat stoked by the leader of the Opposition,” said Tait in a Tuesday interview with the Globe and Mail. .“I think they feel CBC is a mouthpiece for the Liberal government.” .Poilievre said in March at his Axe the Carbon Tax Rally in Ottawa he would defund the CBC, which received thunderous applause. .READ MORE: Hundreds gather for Pierre Poilievre’s ‘Axe the Carbon Tax’ rally in Ottawa.“The room doesn’t seem undecided on that one, does it?” said Poilievre. .“That will save us a lot of money.”.Tait hit back at the Conservative campaign to defund the CBC, saying it's a tactic to solicit donations. The Conservatives set up a fundraising initiative which says they will save people $1 billion by defunding the CBC, so they should send in $20. .The CBC received about $1.2 billion from the Canadian government in 2022, which was two-thirds of its funding. .Tait said it's working with the same budget as 30 years ago. It did linear television and radio 30 years ago. .Now it does those two mediums, CBC Gem, streaming radio, and digital platforms. She said it has “completely tripled our output, yet we’re doing it with less money.”.The president went on to say staff “don’t want to drag Canadians to digital.” Canadians are dragging it into digital. .The Broadcasting Act specifies the CBC should provide radio and television services, so such a change might require an amendment.Tait said it is the one broadcaster in the system which has the obligation to serve all Canadians. She added rural audiences might be limited to their television, so it is not going to abandon them..Some shows do better on digital platforms. She urged producers who are planning on pitch a TV show to the CBC to think differently and pitch a podcast. .“We saw it in the pandemic, subscriptions to streaming go way up and those people don’t go back to conventional television,” she said. .Rally Public Affairs President Stephen Taylor said it was inappropriate for Tait to comment on politics like this, since CBC’s mandate is reviewed by Parliament. .“This is more of Trudeau's force feeding leftist content to Canadians,” said Taylor. .“Not only will they destroy YouTube, they'll force feed you CBCTube.”.Conservative MP Marty Morantz (Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley) acknowledged Tait said the Conservatives believe CBC is a mouthpiece for the Canadian government. .“The head of the CBC is now publicly bashing the Conservative Party of Canada,” said Morantz. .“CBC bias is now on full display.”
