Eurovision’s global brand could be about to grow to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It was revealed this week that Canada is in early discussions to possibly join the song contest.
Indications of a potential Canadian appearance at Eurovision came from the federal government’s latest budget.
One section of the document was titled “Protecting Our National Broadcaster: CBC/Radio-Canada.” Part of this laid out plans for the government to work with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to explore the possibility of participating at 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 modernise 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 modernising CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate to strengthen independence, and is working with CBC/Radio Canada to explore participation in Eurovision.”
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Two government sources have told CBC’s news department that Prime Minister Mark Carney is personally involved in the push for Canada to appear at Eurovision.
Carney previously worked as the Governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. During his time in the UK, he would have likely been well acquainted with the Eurovision Song Contest. It seems the Liberal politician and economist became such a fan that he now wishes to see his own country take to the stage — and possibly position Canada closer to its European allies rather than Donald Trump’s USA.
Eurovision organisers at the European Broadcasting Union have confirmed that discussions with Canadian broadcaster CBC have been taking place. In a statement sent to The Euro Trip Podcast, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, Martin Green, noted:
“The Canadian conversation with CBC is in its very early stages and we look forward to continuing our discussions with them.”
As an associate member of the EBU, Canada does not have automatic right to participate at Eurovision, but must be specifically invited.
This was the case for Australia in 2015, who were given the opportunity to appear at the contest’s 60th anniversary — and have been invited back ever since.
With the 70th edition of Eurovision set to take place in 2026, the EBU may be interested in bringing another new name to the party.
Canadian singers have in fact appeared at Eurovision before, but waving the flags of European countries. The most famous is of course Céline Dion, who lifted the trophy for Switzerland in 1988.
France has also not been a stranger to selecting Canadian performers — Natasha St-Pier, born in New Brunswick, sang in 2001; Montreal’s La Zarra waved the tricolour in 2023.
Any sign of ‘Eurovision Canada’?
This isn’t the first time a push has been made for Canada to embrace the world’s largest music competition.
The EBU previously announced spin-off competition Eurovision Canada in cooperation with Toronto-based production company Insight Productions. Set to feature artists from each of the ten provinces and three territories, it was supposed to premiere in 2023 as a potential national final for the North American nation… but two years later it has never seen the light of day.
Lindsay Cox, co-chief content officer at Insight Productions, told The Canadian Press earlier this year that, following the announcement, they had realised “the complexity of a Canadian going to Europe and competing.”
CBC would also have to get onboard with any possible national final. Spokesperson Chuck Thompson told CBC News the broadcaster had met with Insight Productions at the time. However, they eventually decided it would be “prohibitively expensive.”
Nevertheless, Cox still hopes to get the event off the ground. She said work would be done together with Quebec-based company Groupe Fair-Play to pitch a revamped version to broadcasters.
Should a national final still be deemed too costly, CBC has the option of internally selecting an artist to send to Europe.
Do you want to see Canada at Eurovision? Who do you think should represent the nation if they do participate? Let us know in the comments below.
O NO!
At this rate, being a European country will be optional to take part of Eurovision in the not too distant future
Yeah right…as if Israel weren’t there since 1973, Morocco in 1980 and Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan since 2007/2008. Eurovision refers to the European broadcasting Area which includes North Africa, the Caucasus and the Middle East. With Australia invited every year since 2015, the precedent has been set to offer other EBU associate members to join in if the shoe fits. We know what the elephant in the room is and what the long term damage is in case 4-5 countries withdraw, especially those which fund the contest the most, but it seems like the EBU believes the brand can outlast… Read more »
They’re going to keep Israel in, a half dozen countries will pull out, and they’re desperate to get numbers to fill that, aren’t they?
Yes, big time.
Make an European competition from Eurovision again. Thank you.
You mean featuring countries like Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Iceland, Belgium, Finland and Slovenia? They will have nothing to do next spring. Maybe they should come together and launch a nice rival song contest. I’d love to see that
That’s a creative solution indeed. What should they call it? Let’s have some fun with this:
The “United by Morals Song Contest”
The “Justified Song Contest.”
The “Not-Real-But-Maybe-Better Song Contest.”
The “Slovenia-started-it Song Contest.”
The “Irelande-Douze-Points Song Conest.”
The “Clear Sky Song Contest.”
The “KitKat Song Contest.”
The “EuroPapa Song Contest.”
Like the UK King’s Christmas message… isn’t there an “alternative” message broadcast elsewhere at the same time?
This could be like that!
The Rebelvision Song Contest
I could see this as a one-off, but I can’t see it beyond that. Both of our public broadcasters have different remits, in terms of culture: Radio-Canada does a lot more in the francophone space (and they’re competing with several local francophone channels with franchises of many talent shows running each year in Québec) than CBC does on the English side. FYI back in the 1990s TV5 broadcast the Contest on delay in Canada and there’s always been a core level of fandom. But when I lived in Vancouver the only to watch it live was via a stream or… Read more »
i mean i dont have a problem with them broadcasting it as you brazil south korea china have broadcasted the contest before but competing i think is to far
I wouldn’t mind Canada joining if this wasn’t coming on the heels of a series of major scandals and if Eurovision was more of a known thing in North America. Like, Canada being invited is so transparently fishing for a new major money source to come on board, it’s embarrasing. But very few people are significantly interested in Eurovision over here, so the scandals are unknown and the implications of joining don’t have the same impact.
Why are they not pursuing, say… Chad? Bangladesh? Sri Lanka? Papua New Guinea…?
Why the downvotes…? Only familiar Anglosphere nations allowed?
Well..Canada is trying to build better relations with Europe and specifically the EU countries to counter Trump. Meanwhile the EBU is looking for as many possible participants to counter the possible (and likely) withdrawal of up for 5-6 long standing ESC participants.
it will happen. Both sides need it.
should it happen? Nope. But in fairness, the EBU has bigger issues to address. Canadians are lovely
If Canada joins I want my country, USA, to join too. We are closely tied with Canada geographically, linguistically, and politically. Even if we have some differences now that is temporary. Overall we are closely the same. Eurovision should think of changing its name to Worldvision Song Contest.
Noooooooooooo
Yesssssssssss
is this for money or maybe find some points for the uk
One more step towards turning Eurovision into a random game show.
Who are they trying to impress?
We don’t need validation from North America.
Oh my. How the wheel turns. When I first got involved with Wiwibloggs, it was 2013 and I was living in Canada at the time. There was a definite push in the early-to-mid 2010s towards widening the ESC to include the rest of the world. ESC was kind of known in Canada, but not very well; it only had a niche following there. There were a few fan clubs dotted around, a few good music journalists who wrote about it, and today there are some really great YouTubers from Canada who love ESC. The show itself was infrequently covered by… Read more »
Seems to me like an attempt to shoehorn them in rather than a genuine grassroots desire.
The answer is a blue sky, a blue ground and a blue star on a white canvas. It has destroyed ESC and now they try everything to fill in the gaps. Any normal year these things would have been interesting news. Now it just feels like a way to shift focus of important issues
The boat is officially sinking.
No one asked for this. Non-European countries like Australia and Canada should not participate in Eurovision. EBU is desperate since no one wants to watch their freak show. So instead of making meaningful reforms, they are just going to continue to invite random counties that have nothing to do with the contest so they can keep the coffers full.
I don’t mind countries closely tied to Europe joining Eurovision. I’d prefer Canada or Australia over countries that happen to be a part of the European Broadcasting Area, but don’t share our European values… like Israel.
Shame that The Tragically Hip is no more. They could absolutely rock that stage, plus they are unkown outside Canada. And their songs all touch on Canadian topics
I think Canada may be invited for the 70th anniversary. As we know their artists have appeared over the years for several other countries so why not.
I welcome Canada’s future inclusion in principle just as I would welcome other associate EBU members like Chile, South Korea and New Zealand to mention a few, but this should be done only after every effort has been exhausted to encourage the current 56 EBU members to participate. Within mainland Europe, Turkey and Hungary have issues with autocratic and anti-LGBTQ leaders, BiH’s broadcaster has financial and structural issues that even a sweetner deal can’t solve, Slovakia has other priorities, Monaco and Andorra aren’t ready at this point and Kazakhstan is still a big question mark. The Arab countries aren’t entering… Read more »
Get Barenaked Ladies!
For those who are not old enough to remember, the Barenaked Ladies are actually a Canadian rock band. (Just don’t google the name alone.)
I second the barenaked ladies.
I wouldn’t besurprised if the EBU speeds things up for Canada to join the 70th anniversary edition in order to compensate for the withdrawal of those who sticked to their ‘guns’ (how ironious). I can’t help reminding you that Canada recognized Palestine in September this year, so I find it incredibly hypocritical that it has no issue with Israel possibly participating in 2026 and spare me the violins about governments not representing the spirit of tolerance, peace and harmony bla bla bla…
Governments are not the same as broadcasters and anyway loads of countries already recognise Palestine and that hasn’t stopped them from participating before.
I meant that the Israeli government and broadcaster are in collusion as been proven by the official Israeli government advertising agency meddling in a multi-platform social media campaign in both 2024 and 2025. It had an overwhelming impact on the public vote in most countries in favor of Israel. There are other examples of collusion but let’s take it one at a time for now.
Several EBU broadcasters are struggling to pay for Eurovision, because of financial problems. But it is rather telling that for EBU it is more important right now to invite a country with no historic interest in Eurovision.
But I guess all is fair game when it comes to ignoring the elephant in the room.
Interesting idea, I’d rather have Canada conpete than
Russianpuppet called Kazakhstan.The Canadian PM was an Irish citizen up ’til he had to renounce it earlier this year. He has Irish blood, so maybe that explains the Eurovision interest what with then 7 wins. UK citizen too since 2018, also renounced.
Also, concerning at Anglophone countries getting special treatment. Australia is more than enough already. Kazakhstan got the door slammed in its face.
Yeah. That’s weird, considering they were in JESC.
Please no. Please no. PLEASE NO.
EBU, please concentrate on the needs and rights of your actual members, and STOP trying to grow a global “brand”. You are a union of public service broadcasters, not a soulless Rupert Murdoch corporate moneymaker.
Ouch. Well, I got my way with Gabry Ponte at least 🙂
That song had JUST left my head… and now it’s back! Oh, Purple..