And what form do you think this public consultation should take? If it’s not a poll of the general public, what else is there that’s fair and not just a way for special interest groups to unduly influence your public broadcaster? And what about the effect it would have on the responsiveness of the organisation to change? It just makes no sense at all to me, but maybe I’m missing something.

If you want to talk about public say in the media, about really vital things where the voice of the people needs to be heard and soon, maybe you should look at the most recent private CanWest merger, which the CRTC just rubber-stamped, or the new copyright bill being proposed in January, or the planned integration of CBC TV and Radio. Whatever your stance on these issues, they will shape the media landscape for years to come, and they directly affect what the Canadian public gets to see and how they get to see it. The outsourcing of international syndication by the CBC, while important to the people involved, and hopefully to their union reps, is nothing by comparison, nada, zip.