Quebec City: The media is not the top priority for Canadians. Nor is it the second, third, fourth or fifth. But according to a new study released by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and the Canadian Association of Newspapers, a slim majority of us, 57%, feel that ‘maintaining a strong Canadian media’ should be an important job for the new federal government – after health care, the environment, the budget and a few others.

Released at the CAB conference in Quebec City, the Decima Research study quizzed the nation about Ottawa and the media and found that – although the media does not rank very high on our ‘to do’ list – most (84%) place great importance on Canadian perspective in the news and 71% would accept a tax hike to maintain that content.

Many fear that foreign media is ‘threatening to overwhelm Canadian voices’ and believe funding drops at home will make matters worse, the study found.