
CBC’s Tone-Deaf Tour: How Marie-Philippe Bouchard Just Proved the Conservatives Right
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, the newly minted president of the CBC, has wasted no time in demonstrating exactly why Canadians are questioning the legitimacy of their state broadcaster. In an astonishing display of political insensitivity, tone-deafness, and cluelessness, Bouchard has announced a taxpayer-funded national tour to push back against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s promise to defund the CBC.
Let’s be clear: a publicly funded broadcaster using public money to campaign against the political party that wants to defund it is not journalism—it’s self-preservation disguised as advocacy. It’s also the surest way to confirm every single accusation of bias that has been hurled at the CBC for the past decade.
The CBC’s Conflict of Interest Is Now Blindingly Obvious
Poilievre has long alleged that the CBC functions as a “propaganda arm” of the Liberal Party, that it operates in the interests of an entrenched bureaucratic elite rather than the Canadian public, and that its reporting is riddled with ideological bias. Rather than proving him wrong, Bouchard just handed him a gift-wrapped example of exactly what he’s been saying all along.
Imagine if the Governor of the Bank of Canada went on a taxpayer-funded tour to warn Canadians that a political party’s economic policies would be disastrous. It would be a shocking breach of neutrality and a blatant abuse of public trust. The Bank of Canada, like the CBC, is supposed to remain independent and non-partisan.
Or picture Elections Canada using public money to travel the country, telling Canadians that voting Conservative would put democracy at risk. The outrage would be immediate -people would see it for what it is: a misuse of taxpayer funds and an unacceptable political intervention.
Now, imagine the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada launching a cross-country tour to criticize a party’s proposed judicial reforms, using public dollars to influence a political debate. Canadians would be stunned. A publicly funded institution meddling in politics like this would be seen as an attack on democracy itself.
Yet here we are in 2024, and the CBC president is doing exactly that—spending taxpayer money to push back against a political party that has pledged to defund her organization. She’s framing it as a “national conversation,” but in reality, it’s nothing more than a taxpayer-funded campaign to protect the CBC’s own interests.
By openly criticizing the Conservatives and framing her taxpayer-funded tour as a “national conversation,” Bouchard is proving beyond doubt that the CBC is not a neutral broadcaster but an active political player. The very notion of a public broadcaster engaging in what is effectively a pre-election advocacy campaign should be alarming to any Canadian who values an impartial press.
Tone-deaf: Does Bouchard Not Realize That Canadians Are Fed Up?
The timing of Bouchard’s tour couldn’t be worse. The CBC is already under fire for:
• Falling viewership—down 72 percent in the past six years.
• Bloated executive salaries—1,450 employees making six figures.
• Lavish bonuses—$18.4 million handed out while cutting 600 jobs.
• Repeated scandals—from biased election coverage to a now-debunked smear campaign against Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
• Over 150 cases of misreporting and biased coverage of the Israel-Hamas Gaza conflict, according to Honest Reporting Canada.
The CBC is not just out of touch; it is actively alienating the public. The last thing an unpopular, taxpayer-funded institution should do is embark on a highly partisan, highly expensive campaign defending its own existence.
At a time when affordability is top of mind for Canadians, a taxpayer-funded broadcaster spending millions on a self-serving “listening tour” shows just how deep the disconnect is at the “Mothercorp.” Who exactly does Bouchard think will sympathize? The millions of Canadians who are cutting streaming subscriptions and struggling with grocery bills? The small businesses that can’t afford advertising but still see their taxes funding the CBC’s bloated salaries, ‘interpretive’ reporting, and, at times, misreporting.
Canadians have shown their displeasure with CBC by tuning out in the millions. And this just gives them another reason to do so.
The Hypocrisy Is Breathtaking
Perhaps the most outrageous aspect of this entire debacle is the CBC’s selective commitment to “democracy.” Bouchard claims that she wants a “national conversation” about the importance of a publicly funded broadcaster. But where was this commitment to democratic debate when:
• The CBC refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization, despite the government of Canada doing so?
• The CBC sued the Conservative Party during an election campaign in 2019?
• The CBC buried coverage of Liberal scandals while hammering every Conservative misstep?
The CBC leadership has no problem suppressing or skewing stories when it suits their agenda. But suddenly, when its own funding is at stake, it demands that Canadians listen? The arrogance is staggering.
How This Ends: The CBC Just Accelerated Its Own Demise
Instead of embarking on a self-serving, taxpayer-funded tour, Bouchard should have used her new role to implement real reform-restoring credibility, reducing executive waste, and addressing clear bias in reporting. Instead, she has doubled down on partisanship, given Poilievre fresh ammunition, and confirmed why Canadians no longer trust the CBC.
The irony is that this tour, meant to “save” the CBC, will likely have the opposite effect. By politicizing the broadcaster even further, Bouchard has just made the case for defunding it stronger than ever.
If she thought this tour would sway public opinion, she has sorely misjudged the mood of the nation. Canadians don’t want a state broadcaster that acts like a government mouthpiece. They certainly don’t want to fund one that campaigns against the political opposition.
And after this move, they may not want to fund the CBC at all.