In an election about our national identity, why weren't Canada's cultural institutions a bigger factor?

After a heated and unpredictable election cycle, the results are finally in.

The Liberal party will form Canada's next government. The party has promised to protect cultural institutions like the CBC/Radio-Canada. 

But in an election where promoting our national identity quickly and unexpectedly became a key political issue, why weren't more politicians willing to highlight our cultural institutions?

The morning after the election, culture writers Jesse Wente, Emilie Nicolas and Jen Gerson join Commotion host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to unpack how the federal election campaign unfolded, and what the results tell us about our Canadian cultural identity.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Emilie, when Pierre Poilievre was campaigning against Justin Trudeau, defunding the CBC was not just a rallying cry, it was his biggest applause line at every rally. While the plan was still in the Conservative platform, they didn't talk about it as much during the actual campaign. The Liberals tried to make that a wedge issue in the middle there for a little while. I don't think that quite worked. Why do you think it didn't work?

Emilie: I was saying earlier that Canada was created to basically try to match the American energy, and CBC/Radio-Canada was created exactly with that intent, like, explicitly in the 1930s. It was created out of a national commission that had as a point of concern that American radio was basically taking over the Canadian airwaves … and that we might lose our sense of existing, basically, as a really, really young, invented nation, if we didn't do something about it. And so that's when basically the ancestor of the CRTC was created. And this is also when CBC/Radio-Canada was created, basically as an effort to invent Canada by making sure that people from Nova Scotia and people from Vancouver were listening to the same show in their different time zones. And so that's why the institution was created, and that's why I think right now is the worst time to try and go at this kind of symbol: because now is the time when people realize the most why those things exist. 

As far as Francophone Canada is concerned and Quebec is concerned, there's also this idea that if we don't create institutions that are for us by us, there is nothing out there that will ever be like us. And there is this sense that maybe CBC is trusted, but Radio-Canada is beloved because it's something that comes out of, basically, the expression of a different people. And because of that reason, it is so precious and not just the public broadcaster, but just the ecosystem of media stands for something symbolically that people really, really do not take for granted. And so I think that it became a lightning rod for people realizing that protecting difference is something really, really precious and something that is embedded in the immune system of Quebecers. A lot of them who are at core nationalists decided to vote Liberal maybe for the first time in their lives last night because of that core immune system reaction of, like, "Culture first, we'll deal with whoever's in power afterwards."

Elamin: I love that every Emilie answer begins with, "Well, you've got to know your history for a moment, and then you would not be that surprised in terms of where you are now." And I appreciate you bringing that history to every one of your answers so far.

Jesse, the fact that Mark Carney called the CBC "a cultural institution that's essential," that's great. Lovely. But throughout the campaign, the parties were basically silent on their platforms on every other cultural institution, or just on culture in general. What do you make of that?

Jesse: Well, I don't think that's that unusual, Elamin. I think the CBC is often brought up because it's the single largest cultural institution in the country, but I think you don't tend to see a lot of debate in federal elections around cultural policy and cultural institutions. Otherwise, I think there's a couple of reasons for that. It's hard, because it's difficult to necessarily wrap your hands around something that is intrinsically valuable….

Elamin: But isn't there a distance between the idea that this election is largely about Canadian culture and about our differentiation from America, and then the parties actually being able to speak about culture? Because you'd think, at least in this election, you would have expected to hear them explicitly talk about it just a little bit more, don't you think? 

Jesse: I mean, you're asking someone who dreams of those moments. I would love to have an election where those things are front and center…. Listen, I think there were very clearly other priorities. Yes, there's definitely a cultural throughline — and a very important one — there. But it's not where most people's minds go to, because most people go to life, food, housing. The music that surrounds that, the art that surrounds that, tends to come a little bit later.

But I hope that we see some embracing of that dialogue. And I hope that from this government, that it's not just the CBC, but it's a recognition that all culture across the country, regardless of language and where it is, is very valuable. And that we need to start treating culture not as its own siloed thing, but actually the connective tissue that makes industry, education, government, all of the parts of our society — that that's the lubricant that makes all of that work. And that we need to pay a little more attention to that. That would help us be a little more resistant as a unified country against forces that are seeking to divide us along those lines.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.