Could Canada join Europe('s song contest)?

Canadian PM Mark Carney revealed his first federal budget on Tuesday, and the occasion was certain to be newsworthy given the adversarial relationship with the Trump administration that was a central part of what got Carney the job in the first place. A curious headline from the budget was $150 million (roughly $106 million US) earmarked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio/Canada in part with the mandate to explore Canada participating in Eurovision:

“CBC/Radio-Canada is part of our Canadian identity. Canada’s new government is protecting our national broadcaster by ensuring it has the resources needed to modernize and better deliver for Canadians, and to continue providing vital programming in both French and English.

“Budget 2025 proposes to provide $150 million in 2025-26 for CBC/Radio-Canada to strengthen its mandate to serve the public and to better reflect the needs of Canadians. The government will explore modernizing CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate to strengthen independence, and is working with CBC/Radio-Canada to explore participating in Eurovision.”

The money for the CBC isn’t particularly noteworthy (producing more Canadian content for all Canadians has been a priority for the Canadian government for both the CBC and streaming services) but the mention of Eurovision is something that caught many Canadians and Eurovision fans alike by surprise (including me). However, on second look, I think it’s a decision that makes a ton of sense for everyone involved. 

Canada is looking to cement its independence from the United States amid Trump’s threats of folding it as the “51st state” and there are few bigger cultural platforms to do that than Eurovision. The European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision’s organizing body, is celebrating the contest’s 70th anniversary and has been known to use anniversary editions to make a splash with new entrants (Australia made their official debut in 2015 at the 60th contest). There has also been a concerted push by the EBU to expand the Eurovision brand abroad: the contest has aired abroad for years including in Canada and an adaptation where each Canadian province would submit a song was announced in 2022 (though it missed its announced 2023 launch). 

For its part, CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson said that the broadcaster considered the project but decided it would be “prohibitively expensive.”

Of course, Canada already has a big part of Eurovision history within its ranks: Céline Dion won the contest representing Switzerland in 1988.

Can Canada compete? 

Well, it depends. CBC/Radio Canada is an associate member of the EBU, so they can join the contest with an invitation from the EBU (under similar circumstances to what SBS Australia secured to get Australia into the competition). 

For his part, Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green told The Euro Trip podcast that the door is at least open: 

“The Canadian conversation with CBC is in its very early stages and we look forward to continuing our discussions with them.” 

Two government sources have told the CBC that Carney has been personally involved in those discussions. 

With Kosovo’s RTK and Kazakhstan’s Khabar also waiting in the wings to participate, we could be seeing a debut sooner rather than later.