Incoming CBC Chairman Timothy Casgrain appealed for an increase in Parliament’s allocation to the CBC, and for long-term stable funding at his appearance this morning in front of a Parliamentary committee.
The network has improved its use of existing resources, including its real estate, over the last few years, he said, but there is a limit to how much more can be done with existing resources.
Casgrain appealed to the committee, which has been considering how much commercial advertising should be on CBC television, to strike a balance between a fully commercialized network and a network supported solely by taxpayers. “Should we gain the rights to a show like Hockey Night in Canada and not sell advertising? Can we ask the Canadian taxpayers to underwrite that?” he said.
Canadian taxpayers now pay an average of $30 each to have a public broadcaster that broadcasts in five time zones, two official languages and several aboriginal languages. The BBC, which broadcasts in one time zone and one language, gets $80 from each British taxpayer.
Casgrain, a veteran businessman, is chair of Skyservice Investments. Several MPs on the committee had questions about how Casgrain, who has no background in broadcasting, was appointed to head the CBC, however, committee chair Gary Schellenberger confined questions to the CBC mandate.
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CBC does have ‘Stable’ funding right now… but its mostly destined for the visual cattle and sheep of Nincompoopland. Mr. Casgrain’s appeal for a Parliamentary payraise should be preceded by closer knit plans and a promise to continue to have CBC Radio and Television share existing resources and production staff. The $80 British People contribute to their nations broadcaster is not wasted… neither is the $30 Canadians give to our nations broadcaster. It just defies comparisons. When you can fit Britain into Lake Winnipeg and consider the populations of each of our countries, we have done well with what we set out to accomplish. As for ’several native languages’, few if any, realize they are One People- with 52 different Native Languages… not just ’several’. We shouldn’t look to other country’s national broadcasters for the answers of improving CBC program development. We have the best damn ‘Stable’ of artists, technicians and management in the entire broadcast Universe at CBC… and a ragtag herd of Taxsaver Yaks trying to shut the whole thing down. When you add in the CTV and Global production potential, Canada stands far above any other nation in what we do to keep our people informed, entertained and in touch with reality. This is truly one of the unseen 7 Wonders of the World. Pulling the pin on CBC would be sending us back to the cavernous insecurity of not knowing who we are as a Nation and a People.