Photo: Robert Mailloux, Archive Press
So sayeth Heritage Minister James Moore, under whose department the CBC is funded. It’s a very strange time to live in, to hear the Conservatives talk about institutional heritage, such as a public broadcasting system that drains over a billion of taxpayer dollars every year. In losses.
In an interview with Reuters, James Moore strongly defended the CBC as a kind of cultural icon, particularly for Francophones, and maintains the strong bilingualism of the nation. It is the most definitive defence of the CBC by the Conservative government to date, and will probably close the door on political opponents complaining that the government wants to sell off the crown corporation.
Mr.Moore said that those with the perception that the Conservative government will try to do everything to privatize the state need to calm down. He said that the CBC plays a “vital role” in a country as large as Canada, in that it allows all Canadians to talk to one another, whether they live in B.C., Newfoundland, or Quebec. But his strongest defence was for the well-being of French as the minority language, saying that “without the CBC, it would be like Louisiana.”
A translation of the French text:
“I am against the privatization of the CBC,” said the minister bluntly, in an attempt to end rumors used by his political opponents to attack the Conservative government in the House of Commons.
These rumors have been revived in recent weeks after it was revealed that the Harper government had undertaken a review of assets in Ottawa, including eight Crown corporations, to assess the effectiveness, viability and relevance. Some of these companies, such as Via Rail, may be sold at the end of this year.
But the CBC is not part of this review and there is no question of privatizing the national institution.
Perhaps Mr.Moore has a point that the CBC serves a function in bilingualism, and in allowing French Canadians in places as remote from Quebec as Victoria, to listen to what goes on in Eastern Canada, and in particular Quebec. But that doesn’t mean the CBC can’t be seriously pared down to something that costs considerably less than the $1.1 billion in subsidies per year.
I’m not certain whether this is a political move to silence opposition criticism specific to the assets review, since Mr.Moore sounds genuinely sincere about his affection for the CBC. I also don’t wish to be cynical by insinuating a political motive to any statement by a governmental official. But surely the party must realize that the state-funded television broadcaster has not exactly been the beloved choice of many of their base supporters over the years, which says to me that the Conservatives are continuing their relentless move away from their western-reform roots, to more liberalized, centralized, populist government. This, and the Harper-approved cap and trade system, really says it all, doesn’t it?
h/t National Newswatch
