OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix says he wants a challenge.
After his appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications as part of its study on the issues facing the public broadcaster, Lacroix said Tuesday that CBC/Radio-Canada has already made “enormous strides in maximizing our resources and streamlining our operations in order to invest in the future”, but it wants, and needs, to do more.
“Don’t shrink us to mediocrity, challenge us to be great”, he said in a statement. “Give us the basic tools to compete in the world and we will shine.”
According to Lacroix, CBC/Radio-Canada's four big challenges are:
– how to continue to invest in Canadian programs and services when public funding is shrinking and advertising revenue is moving away from conventional television;
– how to continue to reach Canadians with quality Canadian programming, when a growing number of global choices are available to them;
– how to serve those Canadians shifting to digital platforms, without leaving behind those who still rely on its traditional television and radio services; and
– how to ensure that the public broadcaster does all of that now, while still remaining financially stable enough to avoid having to cut employees and services every year in order to balance its budgets.
Noting that some 87% of Canadians currently use its radio, television or digital content every month, Lacroix asked that the committee’s final report “make recommendations that will allow public broadcasting to be everything it can be for this country in the digital age.”
“If Canada wants the tools to compete in the global media environment, it will have to decide to build them”, he added. “There is no one outside of the United States who thinks the market on its own will provide that opportunity. But with the right support, with a public/private approach that has served Canadians for the last 80 years, there is no one we can't beat. We are as creative, as efficient and as ambitious as any in the world.”
