Canadian PM Mark Carney unveils plan to increase CBC/Radio-Canada funding by $150m annually  

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney says he will increase CBC/Radio-Canada’s annual funding by C$150m (US$105m) if his Liberal Party is re-elected at the end of the month, as part of a plan that could see the pubcaster’s funding almost double in the coming years.

Mark Carney

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Carney, who became PM on March 14 after winning a Liberal Party leadership contest following Justin Trudeau’s resignation, also said his party would look to secure “stable, long-term” funding by making the pubcaster’s annual funding statutory – meaning Canada’s parliament would be in charge of approving any changes rather than the government cabinet of the day.

The Liberal party leader said the additional funding would be given as part of a new, strengthened CBC/Radio-Canada mandate, which will include the development of a governance plan designed to “improve accountability, empower leadership, streamline processes, and tap into the institution’s innovative spirit.”

Under the plan, CBC/Radio-Canada’s annual funding would increase so that it is “in line” with the average funding received by other publicly funded broadcast corporations globally. According to CBC/Radio-Canada, its funding per person is around C$33.60 annually, roughly half of the average funding of G7 countries, which receive around C$62.20 per person.

Across all of its services including news, scripted and unscripted programming and digital, CBC/Radio-Canada received C$1.38bn in government funding in 2024/25.

The announcement of the Liberal plan comes after Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to “defund” the English-language arm of the public broadcaster if elected, accusing it of being a Liberal mouthpiece, being too “woke” and catering to a liberal elite that is unrepresentative of the average Canadian.

At one stage, it was taken as a given that Poilievre would win the next Canadian federal election, with the Conservatives enjoyed a 20-point lead over the languishing Trudeau-led Liberals. However, ongoing threats from the US over trade and president Donald Trump’s repeated rhetoric about making Canada the “51st state” has turned the Canadian election on its head.

Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, has become the frontrunner to win the federal election as the economy has become the defining issue in the election. Last week, the US unveiled its sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, sending the markets into meltdown and the stock prices of several US entertainment companies into freefall. 

A poll conducted last week by market research firm Ipsos indicated the Liberals now enjoy a 12-point lead over the Conservatives, with 34% of survey respondents stating they would vote Liberal versus 36% for the Conservatives. Canadians go to the polls on April 28.

The dramatic shift in political sentiment is viewed as a positive among Canada’s TV and film industry. And while the outcome of the election is anything but assured, C21 has heard that many CBC staffers are breathing a temporary sigh of relief, with many having feared mass job cuts if the Conservatives were to take power.

“A new Liberal government will never cower to president Trump’s attacks on Canada. In this kind of crisis, protecting Canada’s identity is part of securing Canada,” said Carney.

“With this plan, we will protect a reliable Canadian public forum in a sea of misinformation, so we can tell our own stories in our own languages. While Pierre Poilievre follows President Trump’s playbook to take aim at the institutions that make Canada strong, we are standing up for them.”

The Liberal Party plan was supported by several local organisations, including the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA).

“Rising trade tensions with the United States and ongoing attacks on our national sovereignty underscore the need to protect longstanding national institutions, such as Canada’s public broadcaster,” said CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin.

“A strong, well-funded national public broadcaster that serves all Canadians, invests in our stories, and reinforces national unity is something the entire country should support.”