Last week, Catherine Tait appeared before this committee for the fifth time this year.
It's time we moved on. Instead we should be working together to create an even better public broadcaster for its shareholders, who are the Canadian public at large.
We suggest that we begin as follows.
First, there should be no partisanship when it comes to CBC/Radio-Canada. The public broadcaster should serve all Canadians, regardless of political allegiance.
Second, governance may seem like a dry political issue, but it is a fundamental one. Board appointments should be much more independent. It should be up to the board of directors, not the Prime Minister, to hire and fire the chairperson.
Furthermore, Parliament should negotiate a long-term charter, much like the BBC charter, with the CBC/Radio-Canada board. That charter would include commitments respecting performance, public responsibility and funding.
Third, CBC/Radio-Canada should focus on producing local and regional news. It would do so by sending more staffers into the field, which would require more money. The hiring of 25 journalists across the country with money provided under the Online News Act would be a good start, and we must have more.
Fourth, we advise against the strategy of attempting to salvage what we can by cancelling entertainment programming for both anglophone and francophone audiences. CBC/Radio-Canada is the best possible platform for broadcasting flagship programs that tell our stories. People don't want to lose that programming. On the contrary, they want more content.
The time has come to protect our public broadcaster for the sake of our democracy, for our cultural sovereignty and for generations to come.
Thank you.