I understand the CBC’s flaccid demands for still more taxpayer cash have been met with an initial response to reporters of “no” from the CBC-supporting Conservative government whose spokesman added ever so dramatically, “end of story”.
But come on. This is another rerun. It’s never the “end of story” when it comes to government funding or anything the left and far-left desire, um, for our own good. At least not until the “artists” and the Quebecer circus and comedian industrial complex and sundry leftists and women with hairy armpits have spoken. They write the script in this country. Not you. Not me.
Laugh lines like “end of story” should be followed by one of those canned laughter tracks that you hear on crappy sitcoms like Little Mosque on the Prairie; and viewed as more of that fabulous “Canadian culture” that has been created for us by the benevolent government at a cost of untold hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars; and by self-anointed “artist” guruotti and elites and from those within the socialist blowhard set, possibly including David Suzuki for the “science is settled” element, and thus, it never “ends”. In fact it’s “progressive”. The storyline is built right into the title. It only gets worse.
CBC’s pleas fall on deaf ears
By ALTHIA RAJ, NATIONAL BUREAU
The Ottawa SunOTTAWA—Stephen Harper’s government is shutting the public purse to the CBC, likely forcing the public broadcaster to make major cuts to programming and staff, a senior official said yesterday.
“We are not giving any more money to the CBC. End of story,” said Deirdra McCracken, spokeswoman for Heritage Minister James Moore. …
Just last month when asked about it by CBC itself, Mr. Moore proudly protected the CBC and all its yumminess —in this CBC.ca News report:
…“There will be no cuts, that was our campaign commitment,” he said in an interview with CBC’s Q cultural affairs show aired Wednesday.
Asked whether the $1 billion federal allocation to the CBC would be cut by the Conservative government, as the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has suggested, Moore denied there would be cuts.
“The short answer to your question is, no, we’re going to continue our strong investment into the CBC. We believe in a Canadian broadcaster and that’s why we’re spending more money than ever before and we will continue to work with the CBC … but we’re looking forward to being strong partners with the CBC.”
State-owned and state-run media should be banned in this country, and that notion enshrined in the constitution.
And I would know. I listen to music.
UPDATE:
From the House of Commons question period just now (11:20 AM PT)
(with my highlighting)
Liberal Party MP from Quebec (in French): Mr. Speaker, Radio Canada and CBC are the showcase of Canadian content and an important pillar for news and one of the foundations of our democratic system. It’s also the livelihood of thousands of artists, live artisans, journalists and technicians across the country, so what concrete action will the minister take to ensure that Radio Canada/CBC continue to offer high-quality content to Canadians?
Conservative government Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage: Mr. Speaker I appreciate the question. As we all know all broadcasters—private sector and the CBC—are currently facing some challenges but this government has stepped up and we’re providing over a billion dollars in taxpayer money in support and we fully expect that the CBC will continue to deliver the quality programs that Canadians have come to expect of them.Liberal Party MP from Quebec (in English): I hope that that billion dollars that the Parliamentary Secretary has just mentioned is not just a promise in the wind but that the CBC and Radio Canada will actually see the money because the economic crisis hasn’t spared the media. Advertisers face sharply lower revenue. They’re reducing their advertising budgets and this translates into revenue shortfalls for networks. The CBC and Radio Canada are also affected by this situation. The decrease of ad revenue increases the risk of service cuts! So I want a promise from the Parliamentary Secretary that that money will respectively find itself very quickly!!!!!
Conservative government Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage: I promise, speaker… the government is in fact as you know Mr. Speaker I’ve just indicated the government is providing over a billion dollars to the CBC—almost 1.1 billion dollars—that’s almost one thousand one hundred million dollars, to give some scope, of taxpayers’ money to the CBC because we believe in that valuable Canadian institution.
UPDATE 2:
Way to attract advertisers, CBC!
It has always shocked me how supposedly capitalist advertisers advertise on the socialism-reliant CBC, but during this doom ‘n’ gloom economic freak-out and FEAR MONGERING festival the CBC has been showing for the past few years, it has shocked me even more how advertisers keep paying money to advertise on the CBC.
This is how the CBC dubs General Motors this morning, during fresh news of their business difficulties (without the words “so-called” which the CBC do make sure they attach to the phrase “the war on terror”):
…and yet GM or companies like them will continue to support the socialism-reliant CBC by advertising on it, and the CBC will happily accept their millions.
More on this coming up.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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