The federal government on Thursday unveiled escalating cuts to the budgets of public agencies like the CBC, the National Film Board of Canada and Telefilm Canada.

Taking a knife to the Canadian Heritage portfolio, Ottawa imposed cuts on the CBC from $27.8 million in cuts in 2012-2013, $69.6 million in 2013-14 and then $115 million in ongoing cuts from 2014-2015 onwards.

The CBC’s annual parliamentary appropriation is around $1.1 billion, and includes a yearly $60 million top-up to make Canadian content programming.

It’s a similar picture at Telefilm Canada, which the feds are looking for cost savings by cutting the agency’s budgetary appropriation by $2.7 million in 2012-13 to $10.6 million in 2014-15.

And the NFB will see its annual appropriation shrink by $100,000 in 2012-13, with the cuts to grow to $6.7 million in 2014-15.

The federal government, as it tabled its latest fiscal budget on Thursday, also called on Heritage Canada to focus more on the “socio-economic benefits” for its programs, and to stress funding “that leverages contributions from partners.”