Canadian Heritage Committee on April 21st, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

It has already been five and a half minutes. You'll have a number of other opportunities to speak.

Ms. Royer, I'll give you the floor now for five minutes.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

I'm delighted to hear testimony from so many extraordinary witnesses. Given that there is a member from my own community here today, I will focus my questions on Ms. Cena from Tri-Cities Community Television.

I want to say thank you, as well, because Tri-Cities Community Television provides an extraordinary voice in the community. You inform and entertain us. As you said in your own words, Ms. Cena, your goal is to make sure the community is seen, heard and connected. You and the team do an incredible job.

There is no question that community media like Tri-Cities Community Television plays a unique role in Canada's journalism and media landscape, telling meaningful local stories, training new voices and reflecting community life in ways that larger outlets often cannot.

Ms. Cena, from your perspective, what do you see as the most important successes of community media in Canada over the past decade, and perhaps even more specifically of Tri-Cities Community Television?

[Cathy Cena]

Community media has kept local stories alive. We've trained new voices. We've reflected the communities that larger outlets often miss. As I mentioned, its biggest strength is the trust of and local connection with the people who surround us. When we are reaching out to non-profits, for example, that don't get to voice what they're doing in the community, it matters. When we are doing stories on local events like our very own ribfest or May Day parade, or on things that are always happening in Port Moody, like the summer Sunday concerts.... These are all very important things our community of 300,000 needs to hear and know about.

The landscape has changed in so many different ways, some good and some not so good. At the end of the day, we are there and thriving. We have been there for decades, and we continue to bring community news and journalism to the people of the tri-cities.

Thank you for your question.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

That's amazing.

Tri-Cities Community Television was founded in response to the decline of cable-based community TV and the withdrawal of private broadcasters from local production.

Looking back, how do you think changes in technology, market forces and policy decisions have contributed to the current state of local journalism and community media in Canada?

[Cathy Cena]

Technology opened doors, but it also disrupted revenue. Market consolidation and reduced local coverage and policy supports did not keep with the pace it's at now. I think we struggle, ourselves, with technology. Our demographic is 35 to 65. We don't have a young base like Mr. Gonez does, for example.

Every day, we are working on growing our own base of the people who watch us. With regard to technology, I feel we could keep better pace with that if funding allowed for it. With the funding we are getting, we are able to employ the two journalists and camerapeople we have. We have a group of volunteers who help us daily as well. We're moving that forward.

Thank you.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

One of your suggestions was multi-year support so that you can, in fact, plan ahead. Local media is facing serious financial and capacity pressures, as you rightly pointed out.

How does Tri-Cities Community Television experience the contrast between opportunity and vulnerability at a local level? What does that look like on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis?

[Cathy Cena]

Thank you for the question.

I mentioned that funding from Telus was cut a few years ago. There is a need for local media. There is a need for financial help among organizations like ours. We work with limited resources.

You've been an amazing advocate for us. Thank you for that. You know that we are working out of libraries that donate their space. We don't have our own space where we can go and leave our things. We're often setting up and taking down. It's very difficult. Just last week, I did eight interviews in three hours because the library was busy and we had to get those out there.

We work with limited resources. It's hard to staff. It's hard to fund. The impact is strong, but the stability is not.

[Zoe Royer, Liberal, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'll come back to you, Mr. Pineault and Ms. Jamet.

For years, media organizations have been asking the federal government to consider purchasing advertising in traditional media rather than focusing on foreign platforms. It seems to me, and to many people, that we've been asking for this for years. The fact that this is a flagrant injustice has been documented for many years.

How do you explain this refusal to understand that traditional radio and television are also extremely effective vehicles for advertising? Why do you think the government is being so stubborn?

[Caroline Jamet]

It's incomprehensible. Honestly, I don't understand, especially since the federal government has also just announced a strategy to buy Canadian to support Canadian sovereignty, to take care of Canadian companies. We feel that it's inconsistent.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Do you think the government feels that Quebeckers no longer like radio and television media?

However, the studies are quite clear. I reread one recently. You provided us with some figures. Quebeckers and Canadians are still very attached to traditional media, despite spending a lot of time on the platforms.

What should we tell the government? I've been a member of Parliament for seven years. For seven years, we've been hammering home to the government that the money needs to be distributed better. We're not saying to stop investing in advertising on platforms. Obviously, they want to reach as many people as possible.

Considering as well that this would be a way to help many regional media outlets survive, what in the message is not getting through?

[Caroline Jamet]

That's a good question. What I can tell you is that we reach the public every day. A station like 98.5, which has the biggest audience, reaches 1.7 million people a week. We are still a high-performing media. The problem today is the business model.

When it comes to influence in society, our media clearly plays a unique role. According to the survey I mentioned, this is a recognized fact.

Perhaps we need to take a close look at what is happening and how people are getting their news. These media outlets provide credible content. They are important, and Canadians recognize that. If the government wants to reach people effectively, it should know that the Quebec media, the local media, is doing a great job.

Advertising purchasers need to review their strategy to—

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

The message has to get through, in any case, because it seems to me that we've been sending it for a long time.

Thank you, Ms. Jamet.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Mr. Diotte, you now have the floor for five minutes.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Gray, I'm told that CTV's national news is the most watched newscast in the country and that it has been so for more than three decades. Your competitor, CBC, gets $1.5 billion in tax money.

How do you manage to outperform CBC, given their huge financial advantage?

[Richard Gray]

Hard work and dedication—that's probably the short and simple answer. Our team works very hard on a nightly basis to cover this country from coast to coast. We draw upon the resources of our local market stations to help with that process. We have dedicated newsgathering teams, from a national news standpoint, in every Canadian province.

We make it our goal, from a populist point of view, to reflect this country back to itself on a nightly basis. What I mean by this is that we recognize and acknowledge that not everything, from a news coverage standpoint, needs to be about destruction or death. It is critically important for us as a news organization to celebrate the unique things that make this country great—the people, places and things that are are truly different in Canada.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Can I just interrupt you there?

[Richard Gray]

Go ahead.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

I myself was a journalist, actually, for three decades. I spent most of that time in the newsroom of the Edmonton Sun. Editorially, we were a conservative-leaning paper. That said, when it came to politics, we spent most of our time holding the government of the day to account, particularly in the province of Alberta, which has had conservative governments forever. Today I notice that CTV and other organizations seem more fixated, at least federally, on attacking opposition Conservatives.

Why do you think that is, and what do you think can be done to stop that?

[Richard Gray]

I disagree with that characterization.

From the standpoint of our news organization, what we seek to do is provide coverage that is balanced and fair to all participants in the political system. I consider us to be doing our job when both sides are complaining equally loudly about the work we're doing. I consider us to be doing our job when we are going right up the middle.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Okay. Fair enough.

In 2024, CTV News was caught altering a video clip of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. It maliciously misrepresented his words, and two people were fired over this. What's being done to ensure this kind of travesty never happens again?

[Richard Gray]

We took considerable and great steps in light of what transpired. We apologized for what transpired, and we did an immediate investigation. That ultimately, as you said, led to the termination of two staff members.

I am on record with other House of Commons committees on this matter as saying that it is the first and only time in my career that I have ever seen anything like that happen. I stand by that.

[Kerry Diotte, Conservative, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Peter Menzies, former CRTC vice-chair, told this committee last week that he believes objectivity is gone from newsrooms. He said that objectivity is “an enormous challenge” for public broadcasters”. He also said that most newsroom reporters are on the centre-left politically. I experienced that myself at a conservative newspaper years ago.

What do you make of that and what is CTV doing to ensure its journalists are objective?

[Richard Gray]

We have a number of guardrails in place at CTV.

We have a news policy that has requirements with respect to our creation of content. We adhere to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' code of ethics. We adhere to the RTDNA Canada code of ethics. In addition, in the digital space, we are part of what is called the Trust Project.

All of those spell out very clearly what is expected of journalism organizations and how journalists conduct themselves.

I can say this. In any newsroom that I have ever been a part of, there has never been a conversation about the adoption of a particular political point of view—in fact, quite the contrary. The conversation is always about how we ensure that all voices are heard, all perspectives are reflected.