Written Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget
August 1st, 2025
Dear Members of the Standing Committee on Finance,
Friends of Canadian Media is a not-for-profit organization. We are a non-partisan citizens’ movement that stands up for Canadian voices in Canadian media. From public broadcasting to news, culture, and online civil discourse, we work to protect and defend Canada’s rich cultural sovereignty and the healthy democracy it sustains.
We find ourselves in unprecedented times – times that speak to the fundamental vulnerability of Canada’s cultural sovereignty, and to the dangers of continued complacency on this critical file.
For over 150 years, we’ve been blessed with the world’s largest undefended border. In that time, we became economically prosperous and culturally productive, crafting timeless stories that connected us across vast distances. But eventually, we began to let down our guard. We let foreign tech giants permeate our news and cultural sectors, assuming that our local newspapers and iconic storytellers would be around forever. Now, the American tech sector has openly endorsed and embraced a U.S. administration that openly disdains the very notion of a sovereign Canada.
And if that weren’t enough, we also face significant threats from within. A few short months ago, your government won a pivotal election, which served as a referendum on the future of CBC/Radio-Canada, and ultimately, a timely repudiation of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s ongoing quest to defund our national public broadcaster.
Which is why we were so surprised to see Prime Minister Carney direct CBC/Radio-Canada to propose cuts that could amount to 15% of its total budget. The last time such a directive was made, our national public broadcaster was forced to eliminate 800 positions, or nearly 10% of its workforce.
Canadians voted for this government on a promise to make our national public broadcaster better, not worse. They want, and deserve, a CBC/Radio-Canada that lives up to its reputation as the most trusted and most reliable media organization in the country – one that leaves no Canadian behind, regardless of language, income, or geographical location. But this cannot happen without proper funding. We therefore strongly recommend that the government not impose budget constraints on CBC/Radio-Canada.
Furthermore, we recommend that Budget 2025 fulfill this government’s election promise to provide “an initial $150 million boost in annual funding” while tabling a timeline for bringing CBC/Radio-Canada’s long-term budget levels in line with those of other national public broadcasters.
But we can’t stop there. Much more needs to be done if we are to protect Canadian media writ large. From massive layoffs to shuttered media outlets, it’s clear that our media sector is facing an acute viability crisis, particularly on the local level. At the heart of the issue is a loophole in federal tax law, which allows billions of advertising dollars to be extracted from the Canadian media sector in favour of foreign Big Tech.
We recognize the ongoing challenges of negotiating with a volatile trading partner south of the border. But the long-term survival of Canadian voices in Canadian media is non-negotiable. That is why we recommend that the government adopt incentives that repatriate these vital digital advertising dollars so they can be redirected towards Canadian news programming and jobs.
We also recommend that the Government of Canada follow the recommendation from Public Policy Forum’s report, Uncovered: How to build back election coverage for a better democracy, and earmark at least 25% of its advertising spend towards Canadian news media. Reallocating these advertising dollars away from American Tech Giants and towards domestic, particularly local news media would provide material support to struggling Canadian news publishers while sending a strong message to Canadians that our news media is critical to our democracy and must be supported.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide recommendations for the pre-budget consultations in the lead-up to the 2025 Budget. Friends of Canadian Media looks forward to continuing our work with Parliament to advance our shared priorities. With that in mind, we kindly request an invitation to participate in the Finance Committee’s hearings, either in Toronto or in Ottawa.