"An O'Toole Government will modernise and reform the CBC. We will end funding for CBC digital and we will cut CBC English TV budget by 50%. Our plan will phase out TV advertising with a goal to fully privatise CBC English TV by the end of our first mandate.
We will preserve CBC Radio. It is commercial free and delivers public interest programming from coast to coast. We will also preserve Radio-Canada, which plays an important role connecting Quebecers and Francophones across Canada in their own language.
The world of broadcast media has changed dramatically but our public broadcaster is stuck in the past. The Family Feud is not the Canadian story. It's 2020. Canada has changed; the CBC must change."
These are the words of Erin O'Toole, the new Conservative Party leader and Official Opposition leader elected last month by Conservative Party members.
We don't support any specific party in our Canadian politics coverage. We do know we can't support a leader or a party that cuts CBC funding with such vigor as well as a vacation from logic.
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Modernise yet cut funding for digital is missing a lot of logic. The push to reduce CBC advertising in digital and television needs increased taxpayer funding that isn't threatened during a transition of government.
Preserving CBC Radio and Radio-Canada sounds good though increased funding is never mentioned. O'Toole is targeting support in Quebec so making no significant changes to Radio-Canada plays into that strategy. O'Toole is targeting Quebec and Francophones more than Andrew Scheer, the previous Conservative Party leader, did in his tenure.
Cutting the CBC English budget by 50%: the concept to cut the digital advertising and the English advertising (CBC Radio doesn't run commercials) is that the private media finds unfair in competing for Canadian advertising with the CBC. Privatising CBC English TV would put more pressure on limited Canadian advertising dollars. Where is the logic?
The heavy cuts to the CBC English budget isn't about Murdoch Mysteries, Baroness von Sketch Show, or Heartland. The heavy cuts are about CBC News.
The CBC is out of control and in need of reform. I’ll slash funding for English TV and CBC News Network, and end funding for digital news. Focus should be on CBC Radio and Radio Canada.
— Erin O'Toole (@ErinOTooleMP) February 14, 2020
Add your name: https://t.co/HA2lG4G59d pic.twitter.com/N3gTtP12fA
Conservatives don't like CBC News, no matter how nice or forgiving they are in their coverage. Jesse Brown of Canadaland takes a different path than we do on this topic. His argument is that the threats to CBC funding from the right affects their coverage negatively toward the Conservatives. We argue that there is an effect but the opposite effect where the CBC treats the Conservatives with kid gloves.
"The Family Feud is not the Canadian story." We can finally agree on something. We have been critical on CBC running too much foreign programming and reality programming. Family Feud Canada is an obvious target but most of the complaints against that show could also be made about Dragons' Den. The original show started in Japan; the U.S. for the game show.
This is the time where we mention Kevin O'Leary, who used to have a business show on the CBC (The Exchange from 2009-2014) and was an original host on Dragons' Den for the first 8 seasons, ran in the Conservative Party leadership race in 2017, where O'Toole finished third. O'Leary ran as an anglophone candidate but dropped out before the actual election.
Waiting for O'Toole to be critical of Dragons' Den. We won't hold our breath. As much as we dislike Family Feud Canada, the show is not in prime time unlike Dragons' Den or Fridge Wars.
We agree that the CBC could make smarter choices with funding, especially on the English TV side. We aren't in charge of funding the CBC so our criticism serves a more sincere purpose.
Andrew Scheer, in his departure speech, invited Canadians to "check out smart, independent, objective organisations that are growing all the time, like the Post Millennial or True North." You can choose to check out these sites but don't look for smart or independent or objective. In a time where the Canadian media landscape is overflowing with conservative bents and views, CBC News is a reasonably centrist news outlet.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters issued a recent report that as many as 40 of the 94 private TV outlets and 200 Canadian radio stations could close down in the next 3 years. Canadians don't get a whole lot of news from private TV broadcasters across the country. CTV and Global have local and national newscasts while Citytv has only local newscasts.
The Tyee and The Walrus are well-done exceptions of independent, critical Canadian journalism.
CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage
CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage
O’Toole’s platform says taxpayer dollars should not "fund CBC News Network, a channel no different from its private sector competitors." The only English language competitor would be CTV News Channel. The channels are similar in concept but they have distinct differences. CBC News Network showed the multiple hours of the Conservative Party leadership race giving the party extra time because of the party's snafus with the ballots. We have also noted that CBC stayed with the coverage, missing a Vancouver Canucks playoff game not for news but for waiting. That favourable treatment won't change O'Toole's mind about CBC funding.
Liberal governments, NDP, Green Party, even the Bloc Quebecois — none of them have spoken up on what the CBC should and should not do with taxpayer funding. They might want more investigative journalism on underreported news topics, a marvelous suggestion. Not the same as a government or a potential government going line by line as to what to expect.
The other parties would love to do something about the harsh treatment they received from conservative news outlets. Conservatives get wonderful treatment from the vast majority of the news outlets in Canada. They want complete control and domination of the major Canadian news markets. That is chilling.
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Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet threatened to bring down the government, knowing he didn't have the power to bring down the government. O'Toole talked about being ready should the Liberals call a snap election. No federal party should think of calling for an election.
New Brunswick was basically forced into an election because the Progressive Conservatives were losing their majority within a minority.
When there is a federal election, the Conservatives will run on a platform to do extensive damage to the English TV branch of CBC. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper talked about watching American news instead of Canadian news. The damage from Harper's draconian CBC budget cuts was severe and that was back in the day when the CBC made money from showing NHL games.
The Conservatives want O'Toole to be the next prime minister. A strong majority of Canadians want proper CBC funding. As long as draconian CBC cutbacks are on the Conservative agenda, their chances of running things in Ottawa aren't all that likely.
photo credit: CBC
Twitter capture: @ErinOTooleMP
video credit: This Hour Has 22 Minutes/CBC
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