I was reading today an interview with Hubert Lacroix President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the CBC. In March the Federal Minister of Finance will table in the House of Commons the Government's budget for the year, we are told that very deep cuts are coming and the CBC as the State Broadcaster is facing a 10% cut in its budget. This time around Mr. Lacroix says that after this most recent series of cuts the public will notice some drastic changes in the way CBC's radio and television network operate. The cuts are so deep that either the French Radio Service could disappear or the English Service or 2 full days of television broadcasting. It is unlikely that one or the other of the radio service would disappear completely for reasons of Canadian National politics but this illustrates the seriousness of the matter.
Since we returned to Canada in August 2011 we have already noticed how the CBC is not the way it use to be, the programming has suffered and it is certainly not the same standard it once was as the premier broadcaster and the image of Canadian Culture to the world. The CBC and Radio Canada was lots of great radio and television programming, many famous hosts known across the country by listeners a National following from coast to coast. The CBC brought us Canadian content and told us about our country Canada like no private broadcaster in Canada could. Currently the CBC receives about 1.1 billion dollars annually from the Federal Government not exactly a fortune given their mandate spanning the airwaves of the second largest country in the world.
Currently a lot of our politicians appear to have no time for the CBC and do not seem to know of its contribution to the Nation or they think it is passé, belonging to another era, would anyone call the BBC passé? There is no debate about the CBC's future or debate is stifled under the speeches of fiscal constraint, it appears that talk of deficit and cuts and being responsible is the only talk in town, it has been whipped up into mass hysteria, though on the other hand we are also told how sound our banking system is and how good our financial position.
How much of these speeches is manufactured for cynical political aims remains to be seen. I suspect like many Canadians that the fact that the CBC as a broadcaster cannot be controlled or dictated to by the politicians is the real reason for the trouble. Though with the disappearance of this great National institution or its belittling we as Canadians loose.
The promotion of our National Culture is one area where private industry cannot replace the role of a State Broadcaster looking after Canadian interest as the CBC-Radio Canada has done so well since 1920. A private company has no interest in promoting arts and culture because it never makes money and private broadcaster are not interested in broadcasting outside their market area. The CBC- Radio Canada is recognized as our greatest National Cultural Institution.
Unfortunately despite having lots of friends supporting the CBC, our government has decided otherwise and is not listening. Private industry will do it all for us apparently, I have heard private radio and seen the re-runs on TV and it is not worth the time of day. We live in sad times in Canada. To quote Graham Spry of the Canadian Radio League who testified in Parliament in the 1930's, the founding of the CBC was a choice between private interests and the people's interest, it should be the same today.
Since we returned to Canada in August 2011 we have already noticed how the CBC is not the way it use to be, the programming has suffered and it is certainly not the same standard it once was as the premier broadcaster and the image of Canadian Culture to the world. The CBC and Radio Canada was lots of great radio and television programming, many famous hosts known across the country by listeners a National following from coast to coast. The CBC brought us Canadian content and told us about our country Canada like no private broadcaster in Canada could. Currently the CBC receives about 1.1 billion dollars annually from the Federal Government not exactly a fortune given their mandate spanning the airwaves of the second largest country in the world.
Currently a lot of our politicians appear to have no time for the CBC and do not seem to know of its contribution to the Nation or they think it is passé, belonging to another era, would anyone call the BBC passé? There is no debate about the CBC's future or debate is stifled under the speeches of fiscal constraint, it appears that talk of deficit and cuts and being responsible is the only talk in town, it has been whipped up into mass hysteria, though on the other hand we are also told how sound our banking system is and how good our financial position.
How much of these speeches is manufactured for cynical political aims remains to be seen. I suspect like many Canadians that the fact that the CBC as a broadcaster cannot be controlled or dictated to by the politicians is the real reason for the trouble. Though with the disappearance of this great National institution or its belittling we as Canadians loose.
The promotion of our National Culture is one area where private industry cannot replace the role of a State Broadcaster looking after Canadian interest as the CBC-Radio Canada has done so well since 1920. A private company has no interest in promoting arts and culture because it never makes money and private broadcaster are not interested in broadcasting outside their market area. The CBC- Radio Canada is recognized as our greatest National Cultural Institution.
Unfortunately despite having lots of friends supporting the CBC, our government has decided otherwise and is not listening. Private industry will do it all for us apparently, I have heard private radio and seen the re-runs on TV and it is not worth the time of day. We live in sad times in Canada. To quote Graham Spry of the Canadian Radio League who testified in Parliament in the 1930's, the founding of the CBC was a choice between private interests and the people's interest, it should be the same today.
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