Cutting ads on CBC? Ottawa’s plans for the public broadcaster

The outgoing federal heritage minister says she wants to bar CBC/Radio-Canada from running ads during news programming and from charging subscription fees for digital products such as CBC Gem.

In turn, the government would increase the public broadcaster’s funding and make it more stable.

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who released her plan for revising CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate Friday, says the public funding the broadcaster receives is about half the G7 average for national public broadcasters and she would like to bring it more in line with other countries.

The minister also says she wants to enshrine the importance of delivering impartial news coverage in the CBC’s mandate.

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But St-Onge isn’t likely to have time to implement her plan, with an election likely to come this spring.

St-Onge says she will not run again in that election, adding she is a new mom and wants to be present in the early years of her child’s life.