MPs recommend increasing CBC funding, directing ad spending to Canadian media

The House finance committee wants the federal government to pour more money into Canadian arts and culture by increasing CBC/Radio-Canada funding and expanding eligibility for the journalism labour tax credit. The annual pre-budget report, tabled in the House on Sept. 22, asks the feds to “nshrine and protect CBC/Radio-Canada… by introducing legislation that reinforces the public broadcaster’s independence from government and political interference.” The report also recommends amending the Broadcasting Act to establish “stable statutory funding” in line with the average funding per capita of other G7 national broadcasters. During the 2025 election, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Battle River—Crowfoot, Alta.) campaigned on defunding the CBC, while maintaining funding for Radio-Canada. However, it was unclear how the prime minister-hopeful would have achieved this goal without amending the Broadcasting Act, which gives the CBC’s board of directors independence over business management. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) promised to conduct a mandate review for the public broadcaster during last year’s campaign, and Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller’s (Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs, Que.) office re-emphasized that commitment in a statement to The Wire Report. “Following the platform we were elected on, we will strengthen CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate, and we will have more to share in due course,” said Hermine Landry, a spokesperson for Miller. The Liberals have held the majority of the finance committee’s makeup, outnumbering the opposition seven to five, since Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.) solidified his majority government in the House of Commons earlier this year. Although the Liberals hold decision-making power, according to a dissenting report by the committee’s lone Bloc Québécois MP, Jean-Denis Garon (Mirabel, Que.), the recommendation to strengthen Radio-Canada’s independence was a Bloc-led initiative. Garon also took credit for encouraging the committee to recommend expanding the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit, specifically in the broadcasting sector, and extending the Local Journalism Initiative beyond 2027. The committee’s entire recommendation to support the sustainability and growth of newsrooms includes maintaining the tax credit’s current 35 per cent rate and “expanding eligibility criteria to include owner-operators, employees in broadcasting, and partners in news businesses.” Currently, the tax credit is slated to return to its original rate of 25 per cent in 2027, and the government’s spring economic update included a promise to consult with stakeholders on whether it should expand eligibility to broadcasting. The recommendation also wants Budget 2026 to “direct at least 25 of federal advertising spending toward private-sector Canadian news outlets, address disparities in tax treatment for advertising, and extend the Local Journalism Initiative indefinitely to support the creation of original civic journalism in underserved communities.” “The committee further recommends that the Government of Canada protect Canadian news publishers’ intellectual property in the context of artificial intelligence by requiring government AI suppliers to commit to the principles of transparency, consent, and attribution when using copyright-protected content, requesting that the Competition Bureau examine competition issues in search and AI markets, including crawler practices,” the recommendation continued. Not included in the committee’s report was Garon’s recommendation to “trengthen the social safety net for artists and creators by making the granting of public funding, particularly by Telefilm Canada, for audiovisual projects conditional on compliance with collective or specific agreements negotiated between artists’ and producers’ associations and by reforming EI to improve eligibility for recognized artists.” An accompanying dissent from the Conservative party made no reference to CBC or Canadian media. mcollins@thewirereport.ca

MPs recommend increasing CBC funding, directing ad spending to Canadian media

Regulatory |
By Maria Collins
|September 24, 2026

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MPs recommend increasing CBC funding, directing ad spending to Canadian media

Regulatory | By Maria Collins |September 24, 2026

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