The federal government says CBC/Radio-Canada has received exactly zero dollars from Ottawa’s media subsidy programs over the past five years, drawing a distinction between subsidies available to news organizations and the public broadcaster’s direct parliamentary funding.
The disclosure came in response to an Order Paper question asking how much CBC received through government media subsidy programs over each of the past five years.
Canadian Heritage’s answer was unequivocal.
“The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has not received any government media subsidies in the past five years,” the department said in a response signed by Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller.
CBC/Radio-Canada gave Juno News the same answer when asked about the disclosure.
“As stated by Canadian Heritage, CBC/Radio-Canada has not received any government media subsidies in the past five years,” CBC spokesperson Leon Mar said.
But that doesn’t mean CBC receives no money from Ottawa.
The Crown corporation receives substantial public funding through parliamentary appropriations — a separate funding mechanism from the “media subsidies” referenced in the government’s response.
On October 20, 2025, CBC President and CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard told a House of Commons committee that its roughly $1.4-billion figure for 2024-25 was a “budgetary allocation,” separate from the broadcaster’s own revenues.
Ottawa also provided an additional $150 million to CBC/Radio-Canada for 2025-26 to strengthen and modernize the public broadcaster.
CBC’s latest quarterly results show $341.6 million in public funding during the three months leading up to June 30, 2026 — up 4.6% from $326.7 million during the same period a year earlier.
The distinction therefore comes down to how Ottawa categorizes the money.
CBC does not receive the federal “media subsidies” referenced in the Order Paper question, according to Canadian Heritage. Instead, its core public funding comes through parliamentary appropriations specifically provided to the Crown corporation.
Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to defund CBC and roll back federal support for other media organizations.
In a February 2025 interview with Juno News co-founder Candice Malcolm, Poilievre said Canada needed to “depoliticize news media finance,” arguing government support creates conflicts for news organizations covering the politicians responsible for that funding.
“We have to depoliticize news media finance,” Poilievre said.
“Because right now, what happens is that there are subsidies that go to favoured media outlets that CRA designates, and then there’s no funding for others.”
Poilievre called CBC the “worst example,” citing its billion-plus annual public funding while renewing his pledge to defund the broadcaster.