Conservative MP accuses CBC of ‘poaching’ journalists from local outlets

CBC/Radio-Canada president Marie-Philippe Bouchard found herself defending her organization’s behaviour in local news markets after Conservative MP Kevin Waugh said the public broadcaster was stealing reporters from independent outlets. On April 23, Bouchard and Waugh (Saskatoon South, Sask.) got into a back-and-forth during a House heritage committee meeting over how the broadcaster decides to enter new markets across the country. In recent years, the public broadcaster has expanded its community-based presence in an effort to address news deserts, a term used to describe regions or municipalities where local coverage is virtually non-existent. Those efforts have been spurred by temporary federal funding boosts, including a $150 million injection included in last year’s annual budget. However, Waugh said the CBC’s entrance into new markets often comes at the expense of pre-existing community outlets, invoking a recent example in Medicine Hat, Alta., where the longstanding television station CHAT-TV, owned by Pattison Media, shuttered last year. “Our decision to leave Medicine Hat came before CBC announced its bureau,” said Rod Schween, president of Pattison Media, who also appeared at Thursday’s meeting. “But, unfortunately, when they came to Medicine Hat, they one of the remaining journalists that we had decided to keep... to try to service the market with our local radio station.” Schween added that they were then forced to go through the hiring process, re-train another journalist, and effectively “start all over again” because the CBC had entered the market. “We’ve heard this not just in Medicine Hat, we’ve heard this all over,” said Waugh, who was a longtime broadcaster before entering politics. “How does this help expand media when walks into communities to poach… maybe Ms. Bouchard doesn’t agree with that word, but how does that expand media in a community that is supposedly a desert?” In response, Bouchard took issue with the word ‘poach,’ but suggested the movement of individual reporters was “what happens in human resources these days.” “That is business,” she said. “People move they move because they want other experiences.” Schween also disavowed the poaching accusations (“the same thing happens with us,” he said), though he said the Medicine Hat example was not the only time the public broadcaster had hired away one of his employees. Instead, he continued, the main problem was about the CBC expanding its presence in local markets that aren’t necessarily news deserts. The Pattison executive, who oversees more than 50 radio and television stations across Western Canada, said Medicine Hat was already being serviced by his company’s radio station, as well as several other outlets, when the CBC decided to stand up a new bureau. “We haven’t abandoned the Medicine Hat market,” he told MPs. “ we made the decision to close the television station because we had lost money in that market six of the previous nine years.” “I would welcome a conversation , but, unfortunately, they’re targeting markets that aren’t news deserts in a lot of cases.” Reduced budget shouldn’t be viewed as a cut: Bouchard Bouchard also faced several questions over the public broadcaster’s fiscal situation, after the federal government discontinued multiple temporary funding boosts for the CBC. Conservative MP Bernard Généreux (Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, Que.) said the $192-million funding reduction demonstrated that CBC supporters should “be afraid of Mr. Carney, not Mr. Poilievre.” Bouchard acknowledged the one-time funding supports were not included in the recent parliamentary estimates, but “it is possible that decisions are made.” “I wouldn’t interpret that as a cut,” she said. “I would rather interpret it as funds that were re-invested.” In response to questions from Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux (Drummond, Que.) Bouchard said last year’s $150-million top-up was largely used to add reporting jobs in new and existing local outlets. “We knew it was temporary money,” said Bouchard. “ we knew we had to move forward because it was a priority Canada needs these journalism jobs.” “We need to better cover all our communities and, if it’s not renewed, we’ll have to make choices, but we’re going to protect those priorities.” Bouchard also highlighted forthcoming job opportunities for reporters in Vaudreuil-Dorion and eastern Montreal, which was not included in the initial wave of local news expansions announced earlier this year. dlegree@thewirereport.ca

Conservative MP accuses CBC of ‘poaching’ journalists from local outlets

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By Davis Legree
|April 23, 2026

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Conservative MP accuses CBC of ‘poaching’ journalists from local outlets

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