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Canada's National Observer
It was Oscar Wilde who once opined that, “A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
Sadly, this appears to be the case with a man who seeks to be Canada’s next prime minister. The quote is particularly apropos when it comes to his promise to “defund the CBC.”
When pondering the loss of CBC, I think about the stories that won’t be told, the little and big, the national and the local. I think about the musicians never being heard, the songs not sung, the writers not read and the artists of all kinds not seen. In Canada, CBC offers talented Canadians a stage, often a starting point and audience.
The threat from Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is just one of a collection of three-word slogans, but there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye. Like most three-word slogans, it sounds simple enough: no more money for the CBC.
But Poilievre claims defunding would just be on English services, demonstrating a profound lack of understanding of how the CBC works. The English and French arms of the organization work in the same buildings, and share the same infrastructure, human and physical resources.
He claims his plan would save a billion dollars, but 40 per cent of the billion dollars provided in the government appropriation to the broadcasting corporation supports French services. And that doesn’t fully include various shared resources. So, where are the billion bucks coming from?
The Conservative Party claims to be fiscally conservative. While that point can be argued, one might concede the party pays attention to both sides of the balance sheet: spending and benefits.
That’s definitely not the case here, which makes one conclude the attack on the CBC is not about fiscal responsibility.
According to a study conducted by Deloitte, every dollar taxpayers invest in the CBC offers better than a 2-to-1 return. CBC/Radio-Canada is the country’s most important cultural institution, and the largest commissioner of original Canadian content. It drives Canada’s creative sector. It anchors a cultural community that contributes billions of dollars to the economy and creates tens of thousands of jobs. Surely, to those who consider themselves fiscally responsible, those numbers should mean something.
Consider, too, the impact of about 5,000 tax-paying citizens losing their jobs, and how that will affect their families and communities.
Money is not the only thing that matters. When you take away funding from the CBC, what else do you lose?
For millions of Canadians who live in smaller centres and rural communities, it is essential to have a national public broadcaster because the CBC is their only source of local news and information. The CBC also provides services to Canadians living in remote northern areas. Who else will broadcast in eight Indigenous languages? CTV? Global?
It’s easy for a politician who lives in a city like Ottawa to think that what they see on the private networks or get from Fox and Friends is what everybody wants. This demonstrates a profound ignorance of Canadian culture and geography.
Private broadcasters are in the business of making money. That’s why CTV and Global carry U.S. sitcoms in prime time, and why serving all Canadians is not their priority. What are the chances the CRTC, Canada’s broadcast regulator, will mandate that private broadcasters open stations in Yellowknife and Iqaluit?
Poilievre claims to be a populist, but he’s missing that mark with the public broadcaster, too. A recent survey by the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy found that while they would like to see changes to the CBC, 78 per cent of Canadians want to preserve it.
Ultimately, the shibboleth to “defund the CBC” is about ideology. It’s being proposed by a party leader who, by his own admission, doesn’t watch or listen to the CBC, yet deems it to be too left-leaning. One hopes that Canada will not turn into a nation that allows its politicians to decide what everyone sees, hears or reads.
Perhaps it’s a reflection of the time we live in, that slogans are catchy and appealing. But when you plan to gut a 90-year-old Canadian cultural institution, it might be worth asking, “At what cost?”
Dan Oldfield is president of the CBC Pensioners National Association, a not-for-profit organization representing 6,000 CBC retirees across Canada.
