sigh.
i really never wanted to blog about ‘the economy’ or ‘the recession’ but now i feel the need to. this morning i read that steven harper is using the economy issue to swing the axe to many programs at the cbc. the latest is that the cbc will have to cut 800 jobs. harper has already cut funding to the cbc and now it is reported that although the government is prepared to bail out media giants like canwest global communications and ctv, there will be no economic assistance for our public broadcasting treasure.
CBC, according to Stephen Harper... Flakaderm from Friends of Canadian Broadcasting on Vimeo.
in an awesome article that ian morrison wrote for the georgia straight, he posits that harper’s agenda was to privatise the cbc all along.
i would like to echo the sentament of two tewnty-something canadians who wrote the globe and mail, stating that “We are both in our early 20s and have grown up suffocated by U.S. media. The CBC is where we look to define our culture and our distinct Canadian voice. We fear these cuts will push young Canadians further away from Canada’s stories and their own identity.”
check out watchdog friends of the cbc for more info on harper’s latest smooth move.
I have watched the CBC for at least the last 40 years. They are very biased and continuously tell Canadians what being a Canadian is. The problem is that their view doesn’t represent the country we live in at all. Nobody has a monopoly on what is Canadian including me or you.
Canadians currently provide the CBC with just over $1 billion in annual subsidies. The government is asking all departments in government to provide them with a 5% reduction in expenses. That equates to $50 million from the amount sent to the CBC. The government provides no assistance to the CBC’s competitors even though they all compete for the same advertising dollar. How fair is that?
Mr Harper didn’t hide the fact that some cuts to funding across the government were coming and a convincing majority of Canadians gave him the mandate to implement those policies. He didn’t single out the CBC or threaten to get rid of their billion dollar subsidy. He actually has the power over the next 4 years to do exactly that so let’s hope the artsy types don’t get into a battle that they will surely lose.