(Corrects date in quote to 2015, not 2025, in paragraph 2)
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, July 1 (Reuters) – Canada will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, the organisers of the international music competition announced on Wednesday.
“Canada is the first new country to join the Eurovision Song Contest since Australia in 2015 and will compete in the Semi-Finals when they join the competition next year,” the European Broadcasting Union said in a statement.
CBC/Radio Canada will share details on how the country’s entry will be selected later this year, the EBU stated. The contest next year will be hosted in Bulgaria after it won the contest for the first time in May.
The garish and usually good-natured competition involving pop acts from countries across Europe and beyond, now in its 70th year, was plunged into crisis this year by a dispute over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
Eurovision participation is not strictly limited to geographic Europe but instead to members of the EBU, a broadcasting alliance that includes countries beyond the continent. Australia’s broadcaster SBS is an associate member, which enabled its original invitation.
Last week CBC/Radio-Canada announced it had become a full member of the EBU, making it eligible to participate in the contest’s 71st edition next year.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, editing by Kirsti Knolle)
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