{"id":727455,"date":"2026-06-10T12:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727455\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T12:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:27:08","slug":"head-of-cbc-looks-to-meet-canadians-where-they-are-amid-shifting-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/727455\/","title":{"rendered":"Head of CBC looks to meet Canadians where they are amid shifting challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The political and industry environments the CBC inhabit have changed plenty since Marie-Philippe Bouchard became president and CEO of CBC\/Radio-Canada.Jennifer Roberts\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

When Marie-Philippe Bouchard started her job as president and CEO of CBC\/Radio-Canada in early 2025, the country was about to head into an election where the national public broadcaster\u2019s funding hung in the balance.<\/p>\n

A year and a half later, however, much has changed in Canada \u2013 and the future of the CBC looks much different.<\/p>\n

In October, CBC\/Radio-Canada released a new five-year strategic plan, focused on reaching underserved audiences. In November, it escaped the cuts facing other Crown corporations and received an additional $150-million from the government in the budget.<\/p>\n

This year, a hiring spree has been under way at CBC News as it adds 33 journalists and opens 11 new bureaus as part of expanded local service.<\/p>\n

This spring, Bouchard sat down for her first interview with The Globe and Mail at the CBC headquarters in downtown Toronto to discuss these and other changes \u2013 even as new controversies emerged.<\/p>\n

Related: Broadcasters push back on Ottawa\u2019s plan to roll back foreign streamer contributions<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s been 10 years of promises from the Liberals to update CBC\/Radio-Canada\u2019s mandate. Do you have any sense when you\u2019re going to hear from the government?<\/p>\n

Well, we heard from the previous government through the green paper<\/a> that was tabled last year just before the election.<\/p>\n

By Pascale St-Onge, when she was Heritage Minister?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s right. It\u2019s my understanding that some of that material is still a valid proposal for the government to put in action. However, I don\u2019t have a timeline.<\/p>\n

St-Onge didn\u2019t run for re-election. The Liberal Party had a new platform in 2025, but it didn\u2019t incorporate the things that were in that green paper.<\/p>\n

Not all of the things that were in the green paper. The increased funding and the stability of funding was part of the platform \u2013 and also the endorsement of the public broadcaster as a key national asset to support Canadians\u2019 autonomy and democracy and culture. <\/p>\n

In terms of having concrete legislation or change, what we\u2019ve seen up to now is increased funding.<\/p>\n

You were one of the seven experts who advised St-Onge in the lead up to that green paper.<\/p>\n

I was on the panel when I was CEO of TV5 Qu\u00e9bec Canada, so, prior to the whole exercise of running for this job. It wasn\u2019t like a commission making recommendations. It was more like a bunch of experts being polled and discussing views.<\/p>\n

Did the green paper reflect what you wanted to see?<\/p>\n

From my perspective, the stabilization of financing and the reach for the funding average of the G7 countries was a good direction. The review of governance in terms of the process for nomination of the CEO and the board was also a healthy recommendation. <\/p>\n

In terms of the mandate review, the green paper was highlighting how important the news and the fight against disinformation is. I wholeheartedly believe in that.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Bouchard: \u201cWe\u2019re trying to better reflect what\u2019s going on in communities, reflect them to other communities as well.\u201dJennifer Roberts\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

How did you feel about the recommendation to get rid of advertising on news \u2013 and the earlier one from the Janet Yale-chaired report in 2020 to get rid of advertising altogether?<\/p>\n

Getting out of advertising altogether is an issue in terms of the advertising market in Canada. What\u2019s been happening with the switch from traditional linear television programming to digital is that the revenue has leaked into the big world platforms. So taking CBC out of the mix does not mean Canadian broadcasters would actually benefit. I think we would see a shrinking of the size of the Canadian market instead of a redistribution.<\/p>\n

What about the ways that chasing advertising can taint, or affect the ability to be a public broadcaster?<\/p>\n

Well, a public broadcaster is about meeting the public\u2019s needs. It does have an economic value as well. It creates jobs. It also has a function of being, in the case where there is advertising, a safe place for advertisers to actually reach audiences and clients to support the economy. <\/p>\n

There are various forms of public broadcasting models \u2013 no advertising to a lot of advertising. That\u2019s for the government to decide. <\/p>\n

So you wouldn\u2019t be opposed to taking ads off public affairs shows and news?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a matter of balance, because right now withdrawing advertising revenue is withdrawing revenue and means to invest in programming. So if it\u2019s not matched by some other form of financing, it\u2019s just impoverishing the offer.<\/p>\n

Another St-Onge recommendation was to get rid of subscription fees. Is that something that you would like to do for streaming service Gem?<\/p>\n

The subscription for Gem is basically to have access to all of the inventory of programming without advertising. We also offer, with that subscription, access to the linear channel CBC News Network, which is offered through cable for a fee.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t see Gem\u2019s fees as creating a two-tier viewership for the CBC? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same great programming, but it\u2019s a different environment of viewing. <\/p>\n

We have to adapt to the fact that people will want to watch on YouTube, they\u2019ll want to watch on our app, they\u2019ll want to watch on FAST channels. We have to build out all of that in order to reach them.<\/p>\n

Related: CBC\u2019s new TV lineup includes workplace comedy starring Samantha Bee, P.K. Subban hockey drama<\/a><\/p>\n

Part of the problem with Gem is that Canadians don\u2019t know how well it is succeeding. You\u2019re still appealing the Information Commissioner ruling to disclose how many paid subscribers it has? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a question about coherence of the rules that apply to us and to various other organizations. We were financed from the get-go as a hybrid in terms of sources of funding. Part of it is public, part of it is on commercial terms, so either advertising or distribution. <\/p>\n

When we are on commercial terms, we have to play along the same rules as everybody else. Our argument is that the information commissioner did not consider what the CRTC, the specialized tribunal in the area of media, considers to be sensitive commercial information.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard for people to understand, because you have commercial Bell Media boasting about its Crave subscribers quarter to quarter. The only thing you can draw from that is the CBC isn\u2019t releasing the numbers, because they can\u2019t boast about it.<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s your interpretation, not mine. From a legal standpoint, I can tell you that there\u2019s a valid argument to be made, and we want clarity.<\/p>\n

You talk about CBC as a \u201cmarket helper\u201d in the five-year plan. We\u2019ve seen Radio-Canada\u2019s tou.tv and Crave offer a bundle recently. Could we see that in English Canada: Gem and Crave bundling? <\/p>\n

That would be great. It\u2019s a matter of having the right business interests, but we\u2019re open for any kind of agreement with other platforms. Whatever makes it easier for Canadians to access Canadian content, discover Canadian content, consume Canadian content.<\/p>\n

In the plan, you\u2019re targeting three areas of new audiences. Children and youth: This is a bugaboo for me in my streaming household. My kids \u2013 3 and 7 \u2013 have no idea what CBC is. They\u2019re Netflix, they\u2019re TVO Kids.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair. We have work to do.<\/p>\n

Is there any chance we\u2019ll see a separate CBC Kids streaming app, or at least parental controls on Gem?<\/p>\n

Those are all valid points. I know that [new executive vice-president of CBC] Doug Smith is really, really passionate about consumer and user experience and quality content for all ages. He\u2019s working very hard trying to improve on what we\u2019re currently offering.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also in the plan to expand content on third-party platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram to reach new audience segments \u2013 including children and youth. Right now, we\u2019re talking about banning social media for under 16<\/a>, as in Australia. You want to target kids on those platforms?<\/p>\n

No, we\u2019re trying to reach Canadians of all ages where they are now. If we decide that in Canada there should be an age limit on certain platforms for certain reasons, obviously we\u2019re not going to encourage people that we\u2019re trying to reach to use those. But that\u2019s all theoretical right now. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just kids. It\u2019s also newcomers. It\u2019s also what we call non-users. The idea is to, of course, try and convert them to our platforms. But in the meantime we are trying to reach them where they are, especially with news and information, because there\u2019s so much disinformation out there.<\/p>\n

In terms of reaching newcomers: Netflix, Prime Video \u2013 their shows are available to stream in multiple languages. CBC and Radio Canada, meanwhile, are not even making their English content available in French, and their French content available in English. <\/p>\n

There used to be more. I was surprised when I came back to see how much it had reverted to two different offers. Today we have the tools to make multiple versions of subtitling and there\u2019s a lot more tolerance from users to subtitles. <\/p>\n

In terms of access for the multilinguistic population that we have, our two official languages, not to mention the Indigenous languages, there\u2019s a lot we could do in terms of access in many languages with subtitling.<\/p>\n

To move on to the audience category of \u201cdissatisfied users.\u201d You must be aware that there are certain quarters that, just for ideological reasons, have it in for the CBC. Why try to appeal to people who just don\u2019t believe in public media?<\/p>\n

My first tranche of people I\u2019m trying to reach is those who are maybe indifferent. They\u2019re not that engaged for all sorts of reasons. Maybe it\u2019s they haven\u2019t been exposed or they haven\u2019t found it relevant to them, because maybe it\u2019s a little too urban, maybe a little too Eastern oriented. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been to Saskatchewan, I\u2019ve been to Alberta. I\u2019ve heard people talk about the feeling that maybe the content doesn\u2019t speak to them. <\/p>\n

Then for those who are ideologically opposed, that\u2019s fair. It can be a valid opinion in a democracy to say the state shouldn\u2019t be funding media. We can work at demonstrating our value overall for all Canadians, including those who are challenging the concept.<\/p>\n

The most visible thing since you\u2019ve become CEO is CBC News hiring of all these journalists in communities across the country. You mentioned in a recent speech <\/a>about how proximity helps trust in the media and the CBC. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re trying to better reflect what\u2019s going on in communities, reflect them to other communities as well. I think that that\u2019s genuinely our role. We\u2019re hoping to create critical mass of interest for local news, and trying to collaborate with the local news outlets. <\/p>\n

Northland Tales, an Indigenous-led comedy show in production for CBC Entertainment and APTN, has been in the news<\/a> over its pranking interviews. CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson said recently, \u201cIt\u2019s important for us in the execution that this entertainment series does not negatively impact our news brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does satire have to align with the news brand of CBC?<\/p>\n

No, the citation here is because of the particulars of this issue. We have questions and there have been questions about what was happening. We\u2019ve said we\u2019ve paused the production. It\u2019s an independent production and we\u2019re trying to assess what\u2019s happened.<\/p>\n

Is CBC going to listen to conservative critics and censor itself?<\/p>\n

No, what we need to do is to assess what are the facts and understand what actually happened in order to be able to make an informed decision. There are some people who are concerned about what this production was doing. We need to consider all the facts, including the fact that maybe everything\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

I know we\u2019re out of time, but: Eurovision 2027<\/a>?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a possibility, but we still have ways to go. We\u2019ve been an associate member of the European Broadcasting Union for close to 50 years, so these are our friends. But what is the interest that Canadians would have? How does the music industry see it: as an opportunity, or a competition with other events, such as the Junos? All of that needs to be sorted out to see if there\u2019s a real potential. <\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The political and industry environments the CBC inhabit have changed plenty since Marie-Philippe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,2922,1008,348],"class_list":["post-727455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-noastack","tag-pleasemod","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}