OTTAWA — The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) will be celebrating an important milestone this weekend — June 12 marks CPAC’s 30 years of providing viewers with unfiltered coverage of Canadian Parliament, politics and public affairs.
“Created for Canadians in 1992 by a consortium of cable companies to preserve an independent editorial voice for Canada’s democratic process, CPAC quickly became Canadians’ go-to resource for commercial free, gavel-to-gavel coverage of parliamentary proceedings,” reads a press release highlighting CPAC’s upcoming 30th anniversary.
Over the years, the channel’s coverage has grown to include House of Commons and Senate committee meetings, Supreme Court of Canada hearings, live news conferences, daily public affairs programming and in-depth documentaries on a variety of platforms, the release explains.
“In an age of misinformation and increasing polarization of audiences, CPAC plays a critical role in the national political discourse by connecting Canadians directly to the political process,” said CPAC’s executive producer and long-time anchor Peter Van Dusen, in the release.
“No matter their political affiliation or perspective, viewers across the country know they can rely on CPAC’s neutral programming to ensure they hear all points of view and in both official languages,” Van Dusen said.
As part of its evolution over the decades, “CPAC has meticulously documented the country’s political history in Canada’s most comprehensive and easily accessible public video archive — available to all Canadians, free of charge. CPAC’s digital archive offers an all-access pass to the people and events that have shaped Canada’s democracy,” the press release says.
“As we look ahead to the next decade, we want to thank all Canadians for being on this journey with us. We look forward to continuing to provide coverage of Canadian democracy in action,” Van Dusen added.
CPAC is owned by Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Cogeco, EastLink and Access Communications. Over the past 30 years, Canada’s cable industry has invested more than $60 million in it.
“Today, CPAC remains Canada’s only privately owned, commercial-free, not-for-profit, bilingual TV service, delivering programming by cable, satellite and wireless distribution to 10 million homes in Canada and worldwide through online web and social media channels,” the release says.
For more on CPAC’s 30-year history, please click here.
