The world’s biggest live music competition, the Eurovision Song Contest, is opening its doors to a new North American contender: Canada. This historic change comes after the country’s national public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, secured full membership status in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – the non-negotiable requirement for any nation that wants to compete in the iconic annual contest.
The shift follows months of coordinated work between the Canadian government and the public broadcaster, dating back to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s 2025 national budget. Since taking office last year, Carney has prioritized deepening political and economic connections between Canada and European nations, and adding Eurovision participation was framed as a key cultural pillar of that outreach strategy. By November, the Carney administration confirmed it was collaborating with CBC to explore the logistics of entering the competition, and the 2025 budget allocated C$150 million (£80 million) to the public broadcaster to support this and other cultural initiatives.
While Canada will be the latest non-European nation to join the contest’s lineup, it is far from the first. Israel and Australia have been regular competitors for years, and Morocco made a single appearance in the 1980 contest. EBU Director General Noel Curran welcomed the change, noting that adding Canada’s unique cultural voice to the Eurovision community strengthens the entire event.
Interestingly, Canadian talent has already left an indelible mark on Eurovision history decades before the nation gained formal eligibility. In 1988, Quebec-born global superstar Céline Dion claimed the contest’s top prize when she competed on behalf of Switzerland. That unexpected victory became the launching pad for Dion’s decades-long, record-breaking career that has made her one of the best-selling artists of all time. Other Canadian artists have followed in her footsteps, representing competing European nations: Acadian singer Natasha St-Pier from New Brunswick represented France in 2001, and Montreal-born performer La Zarra represented France at the 2023 contest.
With full membership now confirmed, Canada is on track to field its first official national entry when the next Eurovision Song Contest kicks off next year, marking one of the most significant changes to the competition’s participation rules in recent memory.