In the opening days of the pandemic, the CBC made the surprise announcement that they were cancelling their local dinnertime TV newscasts across Canada: a measure not taken by any private network. This loss was felt most acutely in places like Prince Edward Island, where CBC Compass is the only local evening TV news broadcast produced in the province.

As an independent organization, the CBC does not take direction from the federal government or the Canadian Heritage Minister, but they are required to operate under the guidelines set out by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) as a condition of licence. When they cancelled their local programming, they violated their licence.

Policy Magazine Opinion Piece:

- The CBC is a Pandemic Lifeline. The CRTC Should Treat it Like One by Senator Percy Downe: https://policymagazine.ca/the-cbc-is-a-pandemic-lifeline-the-crtc-should-treat-it-like-one/

Correspondence with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission:

- March 19, 2020: Letter sent to the CRTC Chairperson and CEO Ian Scott on CBC’s decision to cancel local dinnertime TV newscast at the beginning of the pandemic.

- March 24, 2020: Response from the CRTC.

- March 26, 2020: Follow-up letter sent to the CRTC seeking what actions will be taken by the commission to enforce the broadcasting license agreement.

- April 7, 2020: Response from the CRTC regarding the evaluation of CBC’s performance at the end of its term of license.

- April 8, 2020: Follow-up letter sent to the CRTC reiterating the previously asked questions that remained unanswered.

- April 28, 2020: Final response from the CRTC.