Poilievre says no timeline for defunding the CBC
MONTREAL — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre now says he doesn’t have a timeline for when he would defund the CBC despite promising in December to do it “very quick.”
Questioned by National Post on Tuesday on whether the Conservatives would defund the public broadcaster within 100 days of forming government, Poilievre refused to commit to a specific timeline.
“I don’t have a time frame, but we’ve already said, I’ve already made my position clear on that, and it hasn’t changed: We’re going to defund the CBC,” Poilievre said.
His answer is a notable change from his position just a few months ago, at a time when polls suggested Conservatives held a sizable lead in the polls over the Justin Trudeau-led Liberals.
In December, Poilievre told Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley that he would defund the public broadcaster quickly after taking power. The public broadcaster receives roughly $1.4 billion in annual government funding.
“I’m going to do it… very quick,” Poilievre told Lilley . “I’m going to defund the CBC. That’s my commitment.”
On Tuesday, he also provided some new detail about what would happen to the public broadcaster’s English service under a Conservative government. He said that Canadians would continue to “enjoy” the CBC as a “nonprofit, self-funded organization.”
During Tuesday’s press conference, Poilievre reiterated his commitment to maintaining funding for the French service, Radio-Canada.
In a statement to National Post, Conservative spokesperson Sam Lilly further detailed Poilievre’s vision for a CBC that no longer receives federal funds.
“The CBC should be a Canadian-owned, self-sufficient media organization that is a not-for-profit and supported by listeners, donations, sponsorships, ad revenue, licensing revenue and whatever other money it can raise,” Lilly wrote.
CBC has previously said that separating its funding from Radio-Canada’s would require legislative change. In January, the new head of CBC/Radio-Canada Marie-Philippe Bouchard said that cutting funding would “cripple” both the English and French services.
“It is to some extent an existential threat because it wouldn’t be the same corporation that we have today,” Bouchard said on the CBC Radio show The Current .
“If we are imagining that we are going to go forward with only French, the math just doesn’t work. There’s a serious risk that it will, in fact, cripple not only the English services, but also the French service,” she continued.
CBC spokesperson Leon Marr said the public broadcaster would not comment on parties’ proposals for the organization during the election.
Defunding the CBC was a key policy plank for Poilievre from the moment he won the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2022.
He repeated his promise to defund the English service at rallies and public events, earning raucous applause from party faithful.
But the Conservative leader has quietly stopped including the promise in public speeches in recent months as his party’s significant polling lead on the Liberals has melted away. Earlier this month, a Postmedia-Leger poll suggested the Mark Carney-led Liberals (44 per cent) held a six-point lead on Poilievre’s Conservatives (38 per cent).
Carney has gone the opposite route of Poilievre, promising to nearly double the funding of CBC/Radio-Canada in coming years all the while allowing the public broadcaster to continue running advertisements.
On Tuesday, he criticized Poilievre for his pledge to slash the CBC’s budget while promising tax cuts to support workers and companies affected by sweeping U.S. tariffs
“How is (Poilievre) going to finance his big tax cut? He’s going to get rid of the CBC. He’s going to get rid of foreign aid. He’s going to get rid of dental care. He’s going to get rid of childcare,” Carney said.
“He’s going to get rid of all those aspects and then think that 1,000 flowers are going to bloom. Well, that’s not the way things work.”
In a statement, Marla Boltman , executive director of advocacy group Friends of Canadian Media, said Poilievre’s plan is a “nonsensical proposal designed to distract Canadians from the Conservatives’ deeply unpopular plan to defund the CBC.”
National Post
cnardi@postmedia.com
Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.