The Canadian screen industry has seemingly embraced the recent proposal for significant changes to CBC/Radio-Canada from Minister of Canadian Heritage Pascale St-Onge.

Part of the proposal, released Thursday (Feb. 20), would see CBC/Radio-Canada funded through per capita statutory appropriations, directly through legislation, instead of through the annual budget.

It also proposes removing advertising from any CBC/Radio-Canada news or public affairs programming and gradually increasing the per capita budget to be more in line with the pubcaster funding of fellow G7 nations. This would increase the per capita funding to $62.20, nearly doubling the current per capita funding of about $33.66.

Reynolds Mastin, Canadian Media Producers Association president and CEO, told Playback Daily that “CBC’s investment in Canadian stories is an investment in a strong, sovereign country. Today, more than ever, that’s something we should all support.”

The Documentary Organization of Canada said in a statement the proposed mandate, financing and governance changes will provide a “clear pathway to ensuring Canada’s cultural sovereignty.” In its own statement, L’Association québécoise de la production médiatique considered it a successful proposal to protect the pubcaster from political uncertainty.

Marla Boltman, executive director of the non-profit Friends of Canadian Media, issued a statement calling the proposal “the most comprehensive and audacious plan to revitalize CBC/Radio Canada that we have seen in decades.”

Kelly Wilhelm, strategy consultant and head of the Cultural Policy Hub at OCAD University also shared her thoughts about the proposal. “We know in the industry that the fate of CBC has a huge impact on commissioning, distribution and on the ability to make some of the work that is uniquely Canadian” she says. “We’ve got to keep the cultural and the production of Canadian content piece of the CBC in the conversation as well.”

Wilhelm says that she believes statutory appropriation is achievable.

“There are precedents for how that can work in other programs of governments. So, removing it from that annual parliamentary appropriation discussion I think is a really smart move and I think can be achieved,” she says. “I think the challenge there will be making the justification for per capita funding … there would need to be other ways to look at the way in which CBC is achieving its objectives.”

However, one area that Wilhelm could see industry members criticizing for not going far enough is the proposed changes to CBC/Radio-Canada advertising policy.

“The way it’s positioned in [St-Onge’s] announcement is that news and public interest programming would not have paid advertising,” says Wilhelm. “Some broadcasters may say that’s not enough because their position all along is that they should not be competing for advertising dollars with CBC/Radio-Canada.”

The proposal came a few days before the federal Liberal Party leadership debates, which will begin with the French-language debate today (Feb. 24). The English-language debate will follow on Tuesday (Feb. 25). According to Wilhelm, the candidates’ stance on CBC will be an important part of who will become the next prime minister.

“Whoever is in the Liberal leadership, whoever becomes the next prime minister ahead of that election is going to have to have a strong position on the public broadcaster,” says Wilhelm. “I think that the issue is going to be very high on the radar, certainly for the election, and I think it will come out in the leadership debate as well.”

While presenting the proposal, St-Onge urged whoever the next prime minister may be to ensure Canada has a viable pubcaster for the next century. “We need to be able to tell our own stories in our way,” said St-Onge during the press conference.

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