Debate: Defunding the CBC would be ‘suicidal’

Just days ahead of a federal election during which Canada’s sovereignty has been threatened by a trade war with our neighbours to the south and talk of becoming a U.S. state, Canada’s National Observer’s columnist Max Fawcett said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s plan to defund the CBC poses a similar threat to the country’s very existence. 

In a national debate on the future of the CBC held at Mount Royal University in Calgary on April 16, Fawcett, who was speaking against the Conservative plan to end public support for the CBC’s English services, said losing the national broadcaster could “confine us to our own bubbles,” erode our common understanding of each other and even unravel the confederation.

The motion on the table for the debate was Poilievre’s repeated promise to “defund the CBC very quickly” if elected into power. Rupa Subramanya, a writer with The Free Press, spoke in favour, saying that her position was not one of partisan support for the plan but rather based on principle.

“Tax-payers money, whether it is $1 or $1.2 billion, should not be used to fund a public broadcaster. Period,” said Subramanya. 

“A free people should be able to choose what they read, what they watch and what they fund voluntarily,” said Subramanya, adding that the CBC should be allowed to thrive or fail on its own merits in the open market, without the public’s money. 

While her arguments stuck mainly to the principle that media should not be funded by taxpayers, Fawcett defended maintaining —and even increasing— the national broadcaster’s public budget.

In today’s fragmented digital news market, said Fawcett, “it’s easy to surround yourself with voices that confirm your beliefs, your biases and your bigotries. It’s also easier to forget that you are part of something bigger.”

Watch the full debate here:

The debate was moderated by J-Source editor-in-chief Gabriela Perdomo, who is assistant professor of Journalism at Mount Royal University.