A s Canada’s indie production sector gathered in Ottawa for the first in-person Prime Time conference since 2020, discussion around the future of the nation’s public broadcaster was high on the agenda.

CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Catherine Tait (pictured) appeared at Prime Time on Friday (Feb. 3) as the closing keynote address, where she referenced an existential threat facing the public broadcaster due to the Conservative Party’s current campaign to “defund the CBC.”

In response, Tait called on delegates at Prime Time to begin their own calls to “defend the CBC.”

“The reality is we know that the current opposition has taken a very strong stance against CBC/Radio-Canada, specifically CBC,” Tait tells Playback Daily following the keynote. “We will defend it as passionately as we can because we really believe that it’s an essential part of this country’s democratic fabric. I don’t think it’s just a little thing to lose CBC Television.”

Tait is currently on a digital marketing campaign for CBC to reach audiences across Canada to “communicate to audiences that we’re really looking to embrace Canada and all its diversity,” she says.

The campaign’s tagline has emphasized that “it’s a Canada thing,” and Tait says she’s used the opportunity to also try to highlight to audiences and industry stakeholders alike how much of a role CBC plays in Canadian life. That includes its place as the biggest commissioner of Canadian content.

During a Q&A discussion following her keynote, Tait addressed another existential crisis impacting the industry as a whole – how Bill C-11, or the Online Streaming Act, will impact the level of IP ownership in Canada – stating that the domestic industry must be “front and centre in this new legislation, so that if there is new funding that flows, that it flows to Canadian-owned entities, not into the pockets of streamers.”

The concerns around Bill C-11 have been sparked on a number of fronts, including proposals to modernize the current definition of Canadian content and how tied it is to IP ownership. Another top concern for industry stakeholders is a clause in the bill that sets different standards for Canadian broadcasters and foreign-owned undertakings on the level of Canadian creative talent used.

Tait added that the 10-point Cancon points system “has worked for a very long time, and I’m not sure I understand why we need to fix something that isn’t broken.”

“I believe the intellectual property question has been the determining factor in our industry,” she later tells Playback. “We lose that, we lose it all. And it would be a great, great tragedy to this industry if we lose that ownership, because you have to own your own culture.”

The bill recently passed its third reading at the Senate and now sits at the House of Commons, where the House will review the 26 amendments passed during its Senate committee clause-by-clause review.

Among the amendments was an additional clause that stipulated that CBC/Radio-Canada cannot broadcast advertorial content.

“The Online Streaming Act was [created] to bring the streamers into and modernize the regulatory environment for streaming and broadcast, so to use the legislation to tweak some CBC issue is not appropriate,” says Tait. “In our CRTC hearings and in our licence renewal, the CRTC pronounced itself on branded content very clearly and said, as long as we had guidelines, which we have put in place, and as long as we tell people when it’s paid content and when it’s not, the CRTC did not have a problem with it.”

The CRTC is currently reviewing its June 2022 licence renewal decision for CBC/Radio-Canada, by order of the Governor in Council, after a number of petitions raised concerns about the decision, including the removal of exhibition or expenditure requirements for working with independent producers.

Tait says the pubcaster is currently operating under the new broadcast licence, which included more flexible requirements between digital and linear television, as well as spending requirements for more diverse content.

She says she is unable to comment on the current CRTC review, since the Commission hasn’t issued a public notice yet, but emphasized that the policy directive from the government was around independent production, French-language and children’s programming, so the decisions around the new digital framework still stand.

In her speech, Tait pointed out that streaming service CBC Gem continues to grow, with more than 1.6 million Canadian viewers on its ad-supported tier per month.

When asked about providing additional data to the public, Tait says they have seen “double-digit growth” in the paid subscription tier, but does not currently have plans to publish exact figures until a point where it’s relevant to their audience. She adds that certain data around consumer habits is commercially sensitive due to how it informs their programming decisions.

Tait’s five-year term as CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO is set to expire later this year. The Department of Heritage has appointed an advisory committee to recommend new appointments to the pubcaster’s board of directors, but as of press time there has been no word on whether Tait will be given another term at the helm.

“It’s in the hands of the government,” says Tait. “I can’t comment on where they’re headed, but all I can say is that it’s been nothing but a delight so far.”

Photo courtesy of the Canadian Media Producers Association