2011.09.30 | CWA Canada Local 30213 | Canadian Media Guild

 

 

Guild volunteers seek public support for CBC as Tories step up attacks

Friends lobby group nears 130,000 names on petition

People flocking to open houses at CBC facilities across the country tomorrow will be asked to show their support for the public broadcaster, which is facing escalating attacks by Harper Conservatives.

The Canadian Media Guild, the main union at the CBC and CWA Canada's largest Local, is calling on members to show up at the Culture Days events to hand out flyers that warn the federal government is considering significant cuts to CBC funding.

In a week that saw an announcement by CBC that it would be expanding local services in a number of cities, came reports of Tory MPs and cabinet ministers advocating either a reduction in or elimination of federal funding for the corporation.

Ian Morrison, speaking for the advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, told the Globe and Mail that "outright hostility" from Tory MPs and party operatives undercuts pledges by the prime minister and his Heritage Minister, James Moore, to continue funding the CBC.

Friends has closely monitored Conservative politicians' pronouncements about the CBC and says on its website that comments "by senior members of Stephen Harper's government reveal a troubling ideological antipathy towards public broadcasting."

Noting that no one in government speaks publicly without prior approval from the PMO, Friends declares that "the threat posed by Harper could be the most serious peril CBC has ever faced."

The lobby group has garnered nearly 130,000 signatures on an "I Love the CBC" petition that calls on the prime minister to "reaffirm the importance of the national public broadcaster" and to "provide the CBC with adequate financing … in keeping with the recent recommendation of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage."

In April, Friends issued a news release claiming that Conservative MPs, at the direction of the PMO, were engaged in a national campaign to mislead voters concerning the Harper government's investment in the CBC.

It reported that at least 72 MPs sent scripted replies to constituents concerned about the future of the CBC, stating: 'In fact, this government has increased support to CBC in every one of our budgets. This year the CBC is receiving $1.1 billion dollars (sic) in funding - this being the highest amount of funding ever allotted to the CBC - more than any government in Canadian history.'

"This statement is false," said Friends in the news release. "In each of the past three years, CBC funding has declined under the current government, even after factoring in one-time grants such as the $60 million programming top up in the last federal budget which died when the election was called."

The CMG says the federal government "has made no secret of the fact it is looking to cut at least $55 million from next year's parliamentary appropriation. If that happens, it would inevitably affect some combination of existing programming and the planned expansion."

The Guild notes that the new programming announced this week is not being funded through an increase in the parliamentary appropriation, but rather through the reallocation of existing CBC resources. "This year's retirement incentive program, for example, meant the elimination of positions in some areas to allow for the creation of new positions in others."

The new programming is slated to be in place by next year and will involve the hiring of some 30 employees, says the CMG.

"We're glad that CBC is committed to new and better local services," says Marc-Philippe Laurin, president of the Guild's CBC branch. "We know relevant local programming is important to Canadians and we're proud to be able to help deliver it."

This new phase of expansion follows moves to introduce weekend local TV news in Toronto and Calgary (due to begin in October and February respectively), launch a new afternoon radio show for the interior of B.C. (due in Kelowna in October), and open a radio station in Kamloops (scheduled for April of next year).

There will also be new local radio and online programming in London and Kitchener-Waterloo and additional local TV news in Edmonton, Ottawa, Halifax and St. John's.