Madam Chair and members, I welcome the opportunity to meet with you again, this time as president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada. It has been a busy 11 months.
When I last met with you, I said CBC/Radio-Canada needed to be a listening organization, that I wanted to take the time to listen to employees, to stakeholders and to Canadians, the users and the non-users of our services. That’s what I have been doing, across the country. What I’ve heard is reflected in the new strategic plan. We’ll be sharing that with Canadians at our annual public meeting on October 28, but I think it would be helpful to share the details with you today.
We all know the challenges facing Canadians today: economic and trade pressures; the hollowing out of local news by global digital platforms that now capture 92% of digital ad revenue in Canada, the revenue that once sustained a diverse news ecosystem of community newspapers, radio, even television, all across the country; and the continued rise of polarization and the difficulty in knowing what information is accurate.
What I've heard is that a public broadcaster, serving all Canadians with relevant and reliable news and supporting Canadian culture, is more important than ever. But people expect more from us. In this environment, CBC/Radio-Canada should be a national public service, helping to bring Canadians together and supporting democracy and the media ecosystem.
To support this public service role, our strategic plan has three pillars: proximity, digital agility and bringing people together.
The first pillar, proximity, means increasing our connections by being present in more communities and offering content that is trusted and also engages those who currently may not use or value what we offer. We also need to be a better collaborator with private and community media to help support a healthy media ecosystem.
Our second pillar, digital agility, means ensuring that our content is easily available on whatever digital platforms Canadians are using, and using technologies like artificial intelligence for the public good.
The last pillar is bringing people together. That means finding ways to build understanding by creating opportunities for shared Canadian experiences.
We are building on a very strong foundation. Our extensive network of journalists spans 90 locations from west to east and across the north, and in seven foreign bureaus, providing news and information trusted by Canadians.
Our commitment is to homegrown stories. We are the largest single investor supporting the creation of original content by Canadian independent producers. We have the most popular radio shows and podcasts in the country, and digital services used by 21 million Canadians each month.
This year, we've been able to add journalists to over 20 communities in every region of the country, providing a local service to communities that have never had a local CBC or Radio-Canada service and sharing their perspectives with the country.
Through our collab program, we are partnering with local public libraries in more than 250 communities. There, we’re offering programs tailored to what the community wants from us. Sometimes it's workshops on video production or how to make a podcast. Sometimes it's sessions on spotting fake news or recording television and radio programs with a community audience. That’s also proximity.
Finally, we’ll keep listening to Canadians. We’ll listen, and we’ll adapt, so that we can increase the public value created for their benefit.
Thank you for your time.
