An Alberta senator involved in a report on how to reform the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation says the purpose of this publication was to look at the national broadcaster’s regional work.
“The CBC was established in part because people were really worried that the only radio signals people were getting were American ones, that they weren’t hearing Canadian stories and Canadian voices,” said Paula Simons, an independent senator and a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications. “That was their whole raison d’etre.”
This issue matters to Simons. Not just as a senator, but as former journalist who worked for many years in Edmonton, some of those at the CBC.
Where the issue gets a little muddied is with several newspapers closing down, Simons says the national broadcaster finds itself in an interesting position.
“On the one hand, we need the CBC more than ever. On the other hand, they are more of a threat to competition that’s struggling to survive than ever before, because they’re not just taking advertising dollars, they’re taking eyeballs,” said Simons.
In order to combat the issues the CBC is facing, the report makes seven recommendations, one of which calls on the organization to put in new initiatives in order to work with local media throughout all parts of Canada.
Other recommendations include CBC/Radio Canada have outside analysts examine their content for fairness and balance, look at its role during emergency situations, and having the federal government amend the Broadcasting Act to add “the reflection of local communities and audiences” to the national broadcaster’s mandate.
“I think that’s the most important thing, that we have to figure out a way to sustain journalism in this country,” said Simons. “And the CBC has to be the loadstone. The CBC has to help build the foundation. And I think for some of my colleagues who live in Toronto and Montreal, they really don’t understand what we’re talking about.”
Senate report on CBC “disingenuous,” says Alberta newspaper leader
While the Senate’s report on how to create a sustainable national broadcaster matters, to Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association president Lisa Sygutek, it completely misses the mark.
“To specifically talk about CBC while leaving out the rest of the papers in the country is actually a bit disturbing,” said Alberta Weekly Newspapers Association president Lisa Sygutek, who says she was denied an opportunity to speak to the Senate about this issue.
“They went out of their way in the report to talk about how many newspapers have sold in have shut down in the country, and yet they never talked to anybody who’s actually in the industry about our perspective of what’s actually happening.”
The report notes 521 local news outlets have shuttered operations since 2008, with three quarters of those closures representing community newspapers that published less than five times a week.
Despite Rogers unexpectedly shuttering two of its most popular stations in Calgary last week, Alberta still has a robust media scene, with news radio and newspapers servicing communities throughout the province.
“We’re an association that is extremely strong and we’re very vocal about the importance of community newspapers. And yet the president of that association wasn’t even allowed a seat at the table,” said Sygutek. “Yet, they’re coming on with recommendations of how CBC can make news better in news deserts. But CBC isn’t going into news deserts, they’re going into established newspaper areas.”
By David Boles, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jul 21, 2026 at 14:46
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