- The federal government has introduced three new social programs since 2021, increasing permanent spending.
- This analysis investigates if the media questioned whether the governmentâs new programs observed its own fiscal principles.
- A machine content analysis of CBC and CTV network television and cable public affairs programs was conducted to assess media coverage of the new social programs.
- A separate machine content analysis of government press releases and announcements of the programs was also conducted.
- The cost of the programs was mentioned in only 0.6% of the government press releases and 4% of the television coverage (CTV 4.1% and CBC 3.7%).
- Budget and fiscal issues more broadly were covered in 3.5% of the press releases, and in 15.3% of CTVâs and 9.4% of CBCâs news coverage.
- There were only five mentions on CBC and two on CTV that talked about how the programs created new permanent spending. This was a significant lack of criticism of a key component of the Finance Ministerâs mandate letter, which instructs her to âavoid creating new permanent spending.â
- The most common theme in the press releases was the programs themselves, which accounted for 53.9% of the content. This was discussed in 14.8% of CTVâs coverage and 7.2% of CBCâs coverage.
- Features of the program that purported to provide benefits to Canadians represented 17.9% of the press releases, but only 6.4% of CTVâs and 10.2% of CBCâs coverage.
- Critical questions regarding how programs might be funded were ignored in favour of the politiciansâ political strategies and process questions on how the minority government would remain in power.
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