[2][3] From 1953 to 2012, government and opposition commentaries were broadcast on the evening of the annual budget statement.
Ministerial Broadcasts are occasionally made on urgent matters of a non-partisan nature.
A similar format exists in the Republic of Ireland, though for smaller parties, because a greater number of them are represented in the Dáil, their allocated time may be as little as one or two minutes each.
In Canada, the Canada Elections Act includes provisions for free-time election broadcasts (in addition to paid advertising) during Canadian federal elections, on all licensed terrestrial television and radio networks; notably, however, none of Canada's main English-language private television networks (CTV, Global and Citytv) actually operates under a network license anymore, meaning that in actual practice in the 2020s this provision applies only to the CBC's main radio and TV networks, and the private French-language networks TVA and Noovo.
[4] CBC Television formerly broadcast the regular weekly series The Nation's Business, in which Members of Parliament from all parties could give a short speech on a political issue, but this series no longer airs.