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25 February 2004
Online petition opposes cuts to CBC,
program
funding
TNG-Canada/CWA members are being
urged to support a campaign to “Take Back Our Airwaves” by
opposing budget cuts to the CBC and Canadian programming.
Our Public Airwaves, a new public
broadcasting advocacy group, is running the campaign. The
Canadian Media Guild (TNG Canada’s largest local)
played a major role in creating OPA; its president, Lise
Lareau, is a member of the OPA Co-ordinating Committee.
The OPA points out that Prime Minister
Paul Martin seems more concerned with American relations
than with Canadian culture. There were only vague references
to culture in the latest Speech from the Throne. At the
same time, Martin has made it clear his government plans
to take a knife to existing spending programs. Supporters
of the CBC believe it’s
facing another cut in the coming federal budget.
You can help head that off by signing
OPA’s Internet
petition at: www.PublicAirwaves.ca/petition.
When you sign, it sends an immediate email message to Paul
Martin as well as copies to the new ministers of Finance
and Canadian Heritage. You can personalize it by adding your
own comments.
Canada’s airwaves are flooded with American programming
while the CBC’s ability to produce Canadian programming
has already been seriously impaired by previous budget cuts
when Martin was Minister of Finance, says the OPA. The advocacy
group hopes Canadians will let Martin know that further cuts
to the CBC are unacceptable.
The campaign is calling on the government to implement recent
recommendations by a parliamentary committee to increase
funding for both CBC and the Canadian Television Fund.
The OPA's invitation: "Please
join us in sending a message to the government that Canadians
care about the CBC and Canadian programming. OPA has found
that personal recommendations are the single most important
factor in getting people to support the campaign, so please
encourage your friends and neighbours to join you in signing
the petition."
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