Canadian Heritage Committee on April 23rd, 2026

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

I am going to continue this discussion by turning to you, Ms. Bouchard.

Does Radio-Canada have rules on the use of artificial intelligence in its newsrooms?

I am talking about it being used as a research tool. Of course, I would not expect you to be broadcasting news generated by AI. However, what framework have you, as the public broadcaster, imposed on your newsroom employees?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Approved artificial intelligence tools are available, in the newsrooms and for all of our employees, with our governance framing it. Certain tasks can take a long time and can be an administrative burden, so the tools are generally used to make those tasks easier and quicker. With the news, for example, they can be used to sort through large quantities of information.

When we use artificial intelligence in the production process, which can happen, we declare it. So there is some transparency there.

But we do not create content, except to demonstrate what artificial intelligence does. That's when we explain artificial intelligence and show people how it is used to create pictures and so forth. We use it when we are trying to explain it. But we do so in a very transparent way.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

But, human nature being what it is, “an open door may tempt a saint”, as they say. I imagine that there are a lot of expressions to describe a tired journalist at the end of a shift deciding to use an AI tool to write a piece.

Do the newsrooms have ways to check and monitor things like that and prevent them from happening in advance?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

First, our journalists must adhere to our standards and practices. Second, they work as a community and are always seeing each other.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Yes, but sometimes, when no one is looking, it might be a temptation.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Yes, but our newsrooms are very busy. Our journalists are on site. They do not work from home in their basements. So there's a lot of coming and going, a lot of action.

There is also an editorial process in which a producer or assignment editor will review the reporting, the pictures or the copy. So the production chain has major stages at which things are verified.

I feel that anyone pretending to use their intelligence with generated information in their professional work would be sanctioned. I have no reason to suspect our journalists of doing that. I feel that they hold themselves to standards, particularly the members of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec in our teams.

There's also a discussion between our unions and management on the healthy use of artificial intelligence. The reality is that we cannot dismiss it, because artificial intelligence has become part of our environment and the young people who will be coming into the workforce will have grown up with it.

So we must define the use of artificial intelligence, be extremely transparent for the public, and make sure that it does not affect the trustworthiness and the truth of our product.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

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

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Bouchard, the Liberal government promised you $150 million before the recent elections and they kept that promise.

But last November, in the 2026–2027 budget, the government announced cuts of $190 million for CBC/Radio-Canada.

Is that a fair statement?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I don't interpret it like that.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

How do you interpret it?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

We received $150 million in the 2025–2026 budget. That was a three-year budget and funding for 2026–2027 is yet to come. But the year has started and it is possible that decisions are being made.

I did not interpret it as a cut. I saw the previous amount as reinvestments that allow us to meet some ongoing commitments, because we control the way in which the funding is managed.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Anyway, you should expect to get $40 million less for 2026–2027, because that is what was announced. It's not Mr. Poilievre who you should be afraid of, it's Mr. Carney.

Canadian media are also receiving about $7 million from Google. Since this study began, we have been hearing evidence from a host of media outlets on the brink of bankruptcy or of closing. Basically, they are about to disappear.

How is it that an organization like CBC/Radio-Canada, which receives $1.5 billion in public funding, can receive another $7 million from this collective fund, when the funds could have been distributed elsewhere?

Why did you accept the money? You could have chosen to decline, even though the collective decided to give it to you.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

That's a very good question.

We just have to recall that the money comes from the legislation in Bill C‑18. The bill establishes the principle by which digital platforms must compensate the media, the copyright holders, for their use of journalists' production.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Yes, I understand that.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

We produce journalistic content that is protected by copyright. So the principle by which Google has to compensate us for the use of that content is an important one, even though we are a public broadcaster.

Australia has a program that operates differently, but is the same in spirit. ABC also receives revenue from the platforms for the use of its journalistic production.

It starts with the principle. Then there can be discussions about the way in which those funds can best support the industry in the future.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Some witnesses, particularly those from Télé Inter‑Rives in Rivière‑du‑Loup, who own station CHAU in Gaspésie, and some people from the west—who we have just heard from—came to tell us about being in the same space as Radio-Canada. We are not opposed to that, but the reality is that those organizations hire journalists straight out of school. For all kinds of reasons, Radio-Canada does not hire journalists without experience, or at least hopes that they will have some experience when they arrive at their door. So smaller organizations are obliged to train those journalists for several years. Then Radio-Canada enters the market with new journalism positions in Rimouski, or Matane, or Gaspésie, paying salaries that are higher than the companies can afford.

So here's a question: Could there be training agreements with Radio-Canada?

Would it not be the Government of Canada's role to provide the tools?

CBC/Radio-Canada receives a huge amount of money from Canadians. Could the government not have you establish training agreements, especially in the regions?

Today, companies like yours and like all the other players, are losing advertising revenue.

I wanted to introduce that thought because I absolutely do not want to forget what I have to say.

Don't tell me that I've finished, Madam Chair. I am just getting started.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

The time is running out quickly.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Ms. Bouchard, I will let you answer my questions, if you can.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I agree completely that we should be developing training programs together. We are trying to do just that. We are discussing it. Each time I tour the regions, I start conversations about it. I often ask training institutions, like CEGEPs and the like, to try and develop talent locally, rather than exporting it all the time.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Madam Chair, I feel that my five minutes are always shorter than other people's five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

It's not five minutes.

Mr. Ntumba, the floor is yours for about five minutes.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Ms. Bouchard.

CBC/Radio-Canada's 2025–2030 corporate strategy includes a number of ambitious objectives, such as opening CBC/Radio-Canada to youth, newcomers and divergent opinions. It also establishes priorities, namely proximity, digital agility and bringing people together.

Which indicators are you going to rely on as you evaluate your progress on the objectives set out in the 2025–2030 corporate strategy?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Thank you for that question.

The values framework will be based on measurements of consumption, on the public's engagement in our product in French and English, and on their perceptions of some aspects of that product, such as its trustworthiness, its ability to reflect their reality and their regions, the trust we inspire with the services we offer, and the ability to reflect the diversity of their communities. We will measure the data on these perceptions through surveys.

We are also going to measure our economic impact and footprint, meaning our value to the Canadian economy as a result of all our activities.

Finally, as for every balanced scorecard, we will measure internal indicators, such as employee commitment, retention, the diversity of the workforce and its distribution across the country.

All these measures are part of our framework of values. The public will be able to see them as they come out in our quarterly reports. We have already published some data in the third-quarter report of 2025–2026. We will consolidate the data in our annual report to be published later this summer or in the early fall.

[Bienvenu-Olivier Ntumba, Liberal, Mont-Saint-Bruno—L’Acadie, QC]

Let's go back to the issue of finances that my colleague was talking about.

Is it possible to reduce CBC's funding without harming Radio-Canada's operations?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

The two are closely linked. Of course, the budgets are different and the services in French are separate from the services in English. However, they do share a lot of infrastructure, both technological and physical. This includes workplaces and many of our information processing systems. All our regional stations work in both English and French. The teams working in each language collaborate to a huge extent.

Often, the francophones in minority situations are in very much smaller teams and they greatly depend on their CBC colleagues' ability to gather information and pictures.

So the activities are integrated to a considerable extent. It would be difficult to maintain the quality and quantity of French-language services if there were major cuts at CBC.