We are thrilled to see that Canadians across the country are sharing their thoughts on our vision for a stronger Canadian culture. It's an important conversation, one that we all have a stake in.
However, Neil Godbout's recent editorial in The Citizen (How the CBC could save money, Dec. 6) fails to recognize how much Canada's public broadcaster has already changed.
We recognize the importance of being deeply rooted in communities across the country. That is why by 2020, we will be offering Canadians 18 hours of local digital content, every day.
Over the past six years, despite serious financial challenges, we not only protected our local footprint but increased our presence in Kitchener-Waterloo, Saskatoon, Kamloops, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivires, Saguenay and Rimouski, and Hamilton. With the reinvestment from the government last April, we're opening another new bureau in London, Ont. this spring and hope to grow our presence in other regions.
At the same time, we're moving to smaller, more effective, modern spaces that we rent instead of own and that bring us closer to the communities we serve. In downtown Toronto, we continue to look for ways to rent out unused space to tenants, so that we can invest more into programming. In fact, 20 per cent of the space in the Toronto Broadcasting Centre is already rented out to others.
For Canadian sports fans, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only place where they can watch their hometown athletes all year round as they compete in high-performance sports from speed skating, skiing, bobsleigh and figure skating, to rugby, soccer and track and field. Because of that commitment, when Canadians tune in to the Olympics, they already know their athletes. They've been cheering them on for years.
Hockey fans will remember that Rogers Media became the exclusive rights holders for NHL hockey in Canada more than three years ago. For CBC the high cost of bidding for the broadcast rights to expensive professional sports, is no longer a good investment. We continue to make Canada's game available to all Canadians on our airwaves, through to 2019, as part of an agreement with Rogers.
We cannot agree with Mr. Godbout's assertions that private broadcasters already produce Canadian comedies, dramas and reality programming. Just turn on your television and see.
Once again this fall, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only broadcaster to air almost 90 per cent Canadian content in prime time; great Canadian shows like Kim's Convenience, This is High School; and long-time favourites like Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries and Mr. D.
No other broadcaster comes close to this kind of commitment.
We believe that a strong public broadcaster has a vital role to play at the heart of a strong cultural ecosystem. Earlier this month, as part of the government's consultation on culture in a digital world, we shared our recommendations with Canadians; a national cultural strategy to get the most of out of Canadian culture; an investment in public broadcasting so we can remove advertising from our platforms and focus on cultural rather than commercial priorities. This would also help us to partner more closely with Canada's creators, creative communities and culture institutions. Canada has a great story to tell. We want to ensure the world hears more about Canada.
This is a great time to talk about what Canadian culture can be. You can learn more about our vision at future.cbc.ca.
Shaun Poulter is the executive director of public affairs and government relations with CBC/Radio-Canada.
