CBC President Asked to Meet With Poilievre About His Campaign to Defund the Broadcaster: Report

CBC president Catherine Tait speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 3, 2018. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Catherine Tait, president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), previously wrote a private letter to Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre in which she requested a meeting to discuss his party’s campaign calling for the Liberal government to defund the public broadcaster.

Poilievre rejected the meeting, prompting Tait to send a follow-up letter.

“I have received a response from your office informing me that you are not able to accommodate my request to meet with you. I must admit I find this disappointing,” Tait wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter through an Access to Information request.

The letter was dated Nov. 29, 2022, and addressed a number of aspects concerning the Conservative Party’s “Defund the CBC“ campaign, which Poilievre often referenced while campaigning to be the party’s leader throughout the summer of 2022.

Tait said in the letter she had hoped to meet with Poilievre to help him “understand the organization [CBC].”

“Your party continues to run email blasts and Twitter and Facebook ads, falsely accusing CBC journalists of bias and using the ‘defund’ promise to try and generate money for your party,” Tait wrote, adding that the Conservative Party’s fundraising efforts through the campaign “do not acknowledge the scope or value that CBC/Radio-Canada actually delivers to Canadians.”

Poilievre has promised that were he elected prime minister he would cut public funding for the CBC. The public broadcaster said in its last annual report that it received over $1.2 billion in funding from the federal government last year.

Addressing Poilievre’s promise, Tait said defunding the CBC could have “implications to this country and its economy,” but did not further elaborate.

Tait ended the letter by once again asking Poilievre for a private meeting.

“As the head of the public broadcaster and as the leader of the Opposition, I think Canadians can rightly expect that the two of us have a responsibility to discuss the implications of your promise,” she said.

“With that in mind, I am extending again my request for us to meet. I ask that you reconsider this request.”

‘Defund’ Campaign

The Conservatives’ “Defund the CBC” campaign says the public broadcaster “undercuts private sector and independent media and competes for advertising space” while still receiving over $1 billion in federal funds every year.

It also contests that the CBC “mostly provides opinions and coverage that are widely available in a free and competitive media marketplace” and thus should not receive taxpayer dollars.

On April 11, Poilievre wrote to Twitter suggesting that the social media platform label the CBC a “government-funded media” outlet.

Twitter did so less than a week later, prompting the CBC to halt its activity on the platform as of April 17.

On April 20, Twitter removed CBC’s “government-funded” label, but the public broadcaster has not yet resumed activity on the platform.

“We are reviewing this latest development and will leave our Twitter accounts on pause before taking any next steps,” a CBC spokesperson said on April 21.

The public broadcaster said the label implies that the Canadian government has direct control over its editorial content, which CBC said is not the case.

“Our journalism is impartial and independent,” CBC wrote on Twitter on April 17. “To suggest otherwise is untrue.”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.