CBC funding absent in budget 2023; gov. cracking down on telecom fees

Public broadcasting advocacy group Friends is “frustrated” that the federal government has left out the CBC/ Radio-Canada from its 2023 budget, released Tuesday. Meanwhile, on the telecom side, the government is cracking down on telecom “junk fees” and device charges. “In order to fulfill its mandate, our national public broadcaster needs sustainable and steadily rising funding over a 10-year term. Only a commitment of this magnitude will send the much-needed message to Canadians that our government believes in a strong national public broadcaster,” Friends executive director Marla Boltman stated in a press release. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has been very vocal about defunding the public broadcaster and has attacked the CBC in several funding appeals. “Without , there is little counter-voice in Ottawa to the ill-informed calls to defund the CBC,” Boltman stated. Both the Liberal and NDP parties, who agreed to work together until the next election, promised to increase funding to the CBC during the 2021 election campaign. Boltman accused the government of failing to live up to its promises stating that two budgets later “Canadians and the CBC are still waiting.” The government did allocate $4 million spread over two years to Canadian Heritage to purchase Canadian content for TV5MONDEplus platform. On the telecom side, the government said it plans to “work with regulatory agencies, provinces, and territories to reduce junk fees for Canadians.” For the telecom sector that includes overage charges and extra roaming charges. “The government will strengthen existing tools or create new ones, including through new legislative amendments, to achieve this objective,” it wrote in its budget document, and pointed to amendments to the Competition Act to combat hidden prices, as well as the new policy direction to the CRTC. The government also plans to introduce a “right to repair” to lower the cost of maintenance on laptops, cell phones and other devices. Canada’s current copyright rules prevent third-party access to the repairs, it noted in its budget document, forcing consumers to repair their phones directly with the manufacturer “which costs far more than it should.” “Once the federal government introduces a right to repair, the simple repair could be done at the mall for a much lower price,” the budget document reads. The government will also follow in the footsteps of the European Union which moved toward mandating USB-C charging ports for all small handheld devices and laptops by the end of 2024. “Budget 2023 announces that the federal government will work with international partners and other stakeholders to explore implementing a standard charging port in Canada, with the aim of lowering costs for Canadians and reducing electronic waste,” the budget reads. — Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca.

CBC funding absent in budget 2023; gov. cracking down on telecom fees

Broadcast | March 28, 2023

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

CBC funding absent in budget 2023; gov. cracking down on telecom fees

Broadcast | March 28, 2023

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Canada needs more Indigenous voices in broadcasting, summit told

Telus seeks clarity on undue preference allegations against Rogers

CRTC issues final conditions of Online Streaming Act

Digital media leads the way in CRTC broadcast survey

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us