Featured Comment

It’s time for Harper to do something about the CBC. No more excuses, Mr. Harper — being nice to the Left doesn’t inspire them to be fairer or more honest. The CBC simply sees it as a sign of weakness and they slant the news even more to disparage anyone who refuses to submit to “progressive” ideology. Mr. Harper, you have to understand that these people think like sociopaths — they have no sense of justice or moral conscience, they will only respond to power.
Firstly, the CBC is violating its diversity mandate as a taxpayer funded institution by only embracing the point of view of the Left and being Partisan to the NDP or Liberals, for example. As such, the CBC is a political lobby organization, not a news organization.
Either the CBC gives fair representation of the diversity of views and news items covering the broad political spectrum of Canadian opinion, or they should be taken over by the Government as an official Government voicebox. Or alternatively, the CBC should be sold and privatized.
I have no problem if they are taken over as an official Government voicebox either — reflecting the policies of the Government of the day — because then at least Canadians will know who the CBC is speaking for (there is no hidden agenda). Or if they instead follow their diversity mandate and reflect the political voices of all Canadians — I have no problem with that either. Or if they privatize instead — I have no problem with that either.
But the CBC does NONE of the above legitimate options — they pretend to be an arms-length Government media institution, financed by all Canadians, but they only represent one political voice: the Canadian Left. And in election time (which seems to be all the time these days) they are unashamedly Partisan against conservatives. In effect, the largest media org in Canada gives free election advertising to any Party that opposes Conservatives, hence breaching election finance laws by misappropriating taxpayer money for the pet personal political lobbying of CBC bureaucrats.
Don’t be afraid to do the right thing, Mr. Harper — they will call you a “Nazi” anyway, no matter what you do. Don’t let name-calling and smears stop you from doing the right thing.
BTW, anybody see the CBC report on election fraud in the U.S.? It focused on alleged fraud by Republicans only — not a word about the Obama/Acorn scam. The CBC does not represent political diversity at any level — Nationally or Internationally — it is clearly a Left lobby organization that has little to do with objective journalism.
Why should Canadians have to pay for that? Freedom of the press and media is guaranteed under our Charter and the CBC violates that freedom by allowing only one voice although all taxpayers are forced to fund it.
Originally posted by Ricardo here.

106 Replies to “Featured Comment”

  1. Two things. One, Ricardo is right and the Cons should do something about the CBC, and they are taking far too long to do it.
    Two, if they want a reason why they should act they only need to look at the Liberal Party in BC. They deserted their base (carbon tax, etc. etc.), and we all know what happened when they tried to pass the HST. We also know that if an election were held today they would very likely lose to the NDP. NDP supporters love their party right now. Liberal supporters have little love for their party right now. Let’s see how that works for the Liberals in an election.
    The Cons have deserted their base on too many important issues (income splitting, CBC, global warming, etc. etc.), and have not shown enough guts when it counts. They sometimes seem to forget who it was who worked their asses off to help them get elected.

  2. Five years after the CBC is gone, no one will fondly remember it. History will show it to be a good idea that was hijacked by left wing organizations.

  3. The government should walk into the CBC and flip the big switch to the off position. They could then give some of the money saved to our disabled
    veterans.

  4. I think they should radically change the mandate of the CBC — they should focus on Canadian artistic stuff — drama, dance etc. They should forget about doing political commentary. We do not even need them for the news anymore as there are other Canadian news sources.

  5. yeah good thing you re-posted this unique opinion that had never been said in a million different ways on this and other websites sharing similar political values. I feel so enlightened. cripes, don’t you guys ever get bored of rehashing the same crap? Do you think this sentiment is news to Stephen Harper? Fact is, by honing in the fascist wing of his party and making some minor policy concessions Harper made a breakthrough in Ontario that gave him a majority. sometimes their is virtue in pleasing your so called enemies and Harper knows this.

  6. The next time I get a donation solicitation call from the CPC I will advise them they will not get one more penny from me unless and until they either seriously de-fund or better yet, privatize the CBC.

  7. Good post!
    I had a call two weeks ago from the conservative party looking for another contribution. I told the woman in no uncertain terms that I would gleefully give $200 the day I heard or read that the CBC had been defunded.
    I went on to explain how difficult it was to discuss and or explain my support for PM Harper when intelligent but busy people get their news via the CBC or other news feeds to lazy to do their own research.
    My offer of the $200 still stands. I’m just waiting for the “news”

  8. Excellent post ricardo.
    This post should be sent to every M.P. in the Conservative Party of Canada. CBC is a drain on Canadians and should be cut off all public funds. Let the outfit sink or swim on it’s own dime.

  9. Can someone answer a question for me please:
    Why can’t Harper just appoint a right-winger to head the CBC? And encourage stories about:
    – the benefits of gun ownership
    – the evil of labour unions/communism/collectivism, potential-crushing socialism, etc
    – benefits of low taxes, self-sufficiency, etc
    Why can’t the CBC be turned into a tell-it-the-way-it-is network? Is it because local CBC lefty managers still broadcast whatever they want? And firing Carol Off and all the other left-wingers would be construed as “unethical” government control of the CBC?
    I absolutely despise the unwatched CBC as it now stands.

  10. “Fact is, by honing in the fascist wing of his party…”
    I truly get sick and tired of people using the word fascist to describe some or all conservatives. History has had real fascists. Throwing the word about like a prostitute with a cheap purse shows a real ignorance of history.
    Was at a party recently and one of the people I met must have called Harper “a total fascist” about 20 times. Said individual was a complete idiot.
    If the Cons don’t want to do anything about the CBC then they will end up like the Libs in BC. A party with lukewarm support from their core base. The reason we keep mentioning the CBC is because we are astounded how slowly the Cons have moved to tackle it. CBC is fundamentally a bad idea, both practically and philosophically.
    If CBC has to be kept because the Cons are worried that killing it would cause too much heat, they should at least fundamentally alter how it works. Right now they are neither killing it or modifying its behaviour.

  11. “The next time I get a donation solicitation call from the CPC I will advise them they will not get one more penny from me unless and until they either seriously de-fund or better yet, privatize the CBC.” Not sure that works. I told the caller last election time that I needed a review of immigration policy (yes, that is code) before I would give the Tories my money. Still waiting.

  12. Mike in Calgary
    There is no reason PM Harper can’t appoint “a right-winger” to head the CBC, but I think the reason he doesn’t is that the CBC would revolt and make said right-winger’s term a daily misery and thwart him/her. So he’d be hard-pressed to find someone to accept the appointment who would do what you suggest should be done.
    I think Ricardo’s comments are very apt, though I do diverge from him on this one point: I don’t think the CBC has a hidden agenda. They don’t acknowledge it, and they may lie about it, but it’s so apparent to me that I can’t call it “hidden”.

  13. Anyone have Ezra’s email address? He needs a copy of this.
    By the way, just popped it off to my (CPC) MP.

  14. Thanks Robert. Hate to toot my own horn this time, but here’s another repost: https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/019491.html#c699456.
    I think it puts to rest the argument that Harper intervening for a more diverse political voice would mean Government is meddling in the media — it would in fact mean the REMOVAL of Government meddling on number of issues:
    “Another lie propagated by the CBC is that they are “anti-Government” or “Government critics” and are simply playing that traditional journalistic role like other media outlets.
    But it’s a blatant lie: if the CBC were “anti-Government” then it would logically attack Government support of policies such as Gay marriage and abortion. If it were “anti-Government” then the CBC would be anti-abortion and anti-Gay marriage, for example. And the CBC would attack these Left Government policies by inviting intelligent, persuasive and influential critics, not some wild-eyed screaming “homophobe” or “misogynist” which would serve the sole purpose of misleading the public that only mentally unbalanced people oppose Gay marriage and abortion.
    Do CBC bureaucrats think that Canadians are so stupid that they can’t see through these cheap tactics? Does Hubert La Croix think Canadians are all a bunch of mental retards?
    The CBC is in fact only “anti-Government” on policies that represent Canadians who are conservative — they are 100% pro-Government on policies that represent the Left. The CBC is a Left political lobby institution and I would challenge anyone in Canada to refute that with facts.
    How about a debate between Hubert La Croix and Ezra Levant? It would be Goliath against David — CBC already has the overwhelming advantage. What’s the matter, is the big powerful CBC too chicken?”

  15. I have no problem if they are taken over as an official Government voicebox either — reflecting the policies of the Government of the day — because then at least Canadians will know who the CBC is speaking for (there is no hidden agenda).
    Doesn’t CPAC already do that? Or theoretically at least?
    I have no problems with the concept of a state run broadcaster per se. But there should NEVER be any editorial content, that just opens the door for eventual bias. Instead they should just show the day to day operations of the government, like committees or House proceedings like QP?

  16. One of the factors leading to my conscious conservatism was tuning in CBC to watch the Sunday night F1 races and instead finding some foreign film about gays. I remember wondering about the thought process behind that programming choice, and how many other race fans across the country were simultaneously gritting their teeth in rage.
    NUKE THE CBC!

  17. The CBC is just Hard ‘porn’ for the french left-o-spherics, because the government will bed you down in a sea of red roses.
    I mean who watches the CBC anyway, other than for hockey,according to viewership statistics ?
    http://bbm.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=87&Itemid=70
    30
    RICK MERCER REPORT
    CBC Total
    .T…..
    20:00
    20:30
    1113
    The CBC only cuts the top 30 programs due to the Rick Mercer Report which is a comedy program otherwise they are hooked into the Big Bang Theory or CSI.
    Comedy & Crime sleuthing…are on Canadians minds
    Cheers
    Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group “True North”

  18. This is what we do. Most of us here help fund the Conservative party of Canada with our donations. Well maybe if we told them to defund the CBC or we will defund them by stopping all donations to their party then maybe they will listen. Hey if they don’t, hit em were it hurts in the pocket book.

  19. In the twilight of my life I look back and find myself saddened by the immense lost opportunity at our state funded broadcaster.
    I watched an hour long video piece the other day which reviewed the history & people who attended 17 different prairie churches. It was beautiful produced and I leaned of a great Canadian artist who lived in St Walburg Saskatchewan. His artwork has been viewed in more than 90 churches and yet our children never get to hear about him.
    I’ve enjoyed the wonderful contribution that Irish immigrants have given to Quebec and Canada.
    Want to see some prairie history? visit the old village at Steinbeck Mb. How about the old order folks at St Jacobs or Elmira in Ontario.
    Everywhere I have lived and worked over many decades I have had the great privilege of witnessing the huge contribution by many peoples.
    When I watched the piece on prairie churches it was a beautiful example of the pride folks had invested in our Canada. The sad part is that the video was produced by prairie public television in North Dakota. (partial funding from the city of Winnipeg)
    What’s on CBC…well they have a stupid show called Little mosque in Toronto. The have shows on the rich and famous of the Canadian elite and others on how to hate your own country.
    I know that howling will take place when they get a paltry 10% cut in subsidies. A 100% cut would be proper, but it’s the lost opportunity to tell Canadians and the rest of the world what a truly great place Canada is that is the real shame.
    It’s the opportunity to bear witness to the amazing story that Canadian reality is that has been lost.
    As I approach the personal end game I do accept that Minister James Moore would never listen to some old geezer like myself. But, surely I can hope that younger folks will discover for themselves the wonder that is our country. You see they must do it for themselves, because the state broadcast would never do it for them. That is the sad legacy of the CBC…the lost
    opportunity to honestly tell the story of a great nation and it’s people.

  20. Babysitter, didn’t you say before that it was ‘Post media turning on conservatives’ (paraphrased).
    Make up your mind troll.

  21. melwilde you make some good points. If a country is going to have a state broadcaster it could be used for good purposes. I am a music lover myself, and am saddened by how CBC has utterly ruined what was once a very good contribution in that area.
    Once they destroyed the music side of the operation it was the last straw for me. Now I wish they were simply gone instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on them.

  22. Well, it’s not like the CBC portraying artists and locals would hurt their ratings any more than they are now. I fear it would just turn into another NPR though…best to just cut them loose and let them survive or die.
    However it turns out, keep them the hell away from Canadian Sports. We don’t need them ruining the CFL or curling again.

  23. TJ @3:34 – I know, that “fascist” thing never fails to be annoying, idiots that they are.

  24. Complaining to someone at the call centre will get you where?
    She’s/He’s earning minimum wage to ask for a donation and you complain to her about government policy that she is more than likely unaware of.
    Then wonder why CPC doesn’t reply??
    This is the time when all good CPC supporters need to use their brains and good sense.

  25. Perhaps the CBC should be asked the question of whether a government funded state broadcaster should actually be covering news and politics.
    There will always be a conflict of interest when such a large percentage of their revenue comes from a sole source.

  26. I finally emailed my CPC MP a few weeks back to complain of several things and closed with a blast against the bias of CBC broadcasting and urged the government to cut CBC funding by 50% or privatize this no longer needed drain on Canadian taxpayers. In response I received little more than a form letter from his office thanking me for my concerns.

  27. If the CBC is really a state broadcaster, why doesn’t it toe the government line the way Stunned TV and SDA do?

  28. Babysitter:
    “Looks like Robocall coverage has hit a nerve. Lots of scared Tory talking-point monkeys here.”
    Actually it looks like people like you are terrified about the possibility of free speech on the CBC. Outright paranoid — boy it didn’t take long for you to react! (btw, shouldn’t you be babysitting — who’s kids are you supposed to be watching anyway?)
    Ironically, the CBC had a report on Russia last night where one of the big issues is that political parties apart from that of Putin are not allowed to have a real voice on Russian media. Rather humorous that the CBC didn’t see the irony in their own illicit broadcasting prohibitions. The CBC just can’t seem to get away from the old repressive Russian model of free speech — whether pre or post-Soviet (but at least Russians today are allowed to discuss the media censorship in Russia; while Babysitter and the CBC don’t seem to want anyone to discuss its Canadian equivalent in Canada — even on little ‘ol SDA).
    The adage comes to mind: “Doctor, heal thyself”.

  29. A problem with restricting the CBC to news reporting, and eliminating op-ed, is that reporters can insert opinion into a supposedly neutral report of an event quite easily. We all know about the leftist nature of reportage in our world, and we may be reduced to the “off” switch to exercise our own editorial control, but the CBC does not respond to market forces.
    The solution, as Ricardo and many others have remarked, is to cut the CBC off from the trough and force them to make their own waynin the media world. It may not change their tune – more likely it would make them ever more strident while playing it – but at least I wouldn’t be foced to pay for it.
    Should there be a vast and untapped source of support for socialist agenda journalists, the newly independent CBC, freed from even their casual nod toward fact and objectivity, will be a great success.
    I, for one, will be sorry to see them go. No, really. Go, already. I mean it: go away. Please.

  30. Some folks above have opined that they’re OK with a state broadcaster as long as it deals with non political issues.
    IMPOSSIBLE.
    Today, everything’s is political. Coffee is political (bird friendly? shade-growth? fair-trade? wait for it … turtle friendly). Fur coats. How much real estate chickens have! The “ARTS” will be be all political. Soviet.
    Turn it into a voluntary public subscription only perhaps on a phased-in basis over 10 years to give the commies a chance to serve a paying public or find equally unproductive work elsewhere, at much lower pay.

  31. “…problem with restricting the CBC to news reporting, and eliminating op-ed, is that reporters can insert opinion into a supposedly neutral report of an event quite easily…”
    Of course you’re right. But that is easily resolved by not only requiring diversity of opinion but diversity of personnel. Hire a few known right-wing journalists that are especially hated by the Left, for example. Put a few people on the Board of Directors that don’t have to be first recommended by Hubert La Croix’s controlling agent in the Cuban Embassy.
    😉

  32. If you want to see what a defunded CBC would look like, ladies and gentlemen may I present, City TV.
    All Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
    Just another version of MTV.

  33. I doubt Harper gets rid of the CBC or even dares to cut the taxpayer funding. He has no cajones, even with a majority government.

  34. I also received a donation call from the CPC. And I told them the same thing, get rid of the CBC subsidy if you want any more of my money. They haven’t call back since.

  35. Brian Mulroney attempted to correct some of the left bias by appointments to The board of directors. One such appointment was John Crispo, but his ability to influence meaningful change was limited. Arguably CBC now is far more biased then in Mulroney’s day. Just witnessing Solomon shouting at Dal Mastro, using him like a punching bag attests to that.
    The left viewpoint is too deeply entrenched to be changed by a few appointments. Something more radical is required.

  36. “But the CBC does NONE of the above legitimate options.”
    So in your opinion, turning the CBC into “an official government voicebox” is a “legitimate option”?
    Where were you raised — North Korea?

  37. Hmmm . . . I for one (in fact, for many) am a staunch supporter of CBC. Given that Harper does NOT have a majority (he only got less than 40% of the vote last time), it is clear that the majority of Canadians do not want his brand of controlling, Republicanlike, anti-environment (I could go on) attitudes and policies. I do not think CBC is leftist, but centrist, as are most Canadians. And I think you are fantasizing about how most Canadians would take the loss of CBC. It would be a huge fight.

  38. Great comment by Ricardo. Non-leftists need to keep hammering on the CBC for its biased, implicit insistence that the values of a Liberal-voting downtown Toronto resident circa 1975 are eternal Canadian values, for its institutionally partisan elision of inconvenient facts (e.g. the ACORN scam, as Ricardo mentioned, or the fact that the planet isn’t warming), and for its ongoing campaign to elevate leftist radicals, whom the CBC persistently and fraudulently touts as representing the voice of “Canadians”, into influential players in Canadian politics.
    Unfortunately – highly unfortunately – any prospect of the wholesale dismantling or privatization of the CBC is unrealistic *at the moment* and should be viewed as a long-term goal. A Harris-Decima survey conducted a couple of months ago found that 69 percent of Canadians want the CBC’s funding to either stay at the current level or be increased, and only *12 percent* want the CBC’s funding eliminated. That this support is to a large degree attributable to ignorance (more on that in a moment) shows that there’s a lot more work to be done before the PM can privatize/defund the CBC.
    After the Harris-Decima Poll was released Brian Lilley noted that much of the support for the CBC’s continued funding can be attributed to people being unaware of how much money it gets: the majority of respondents to a Sun/Abacus Data survey were under the impression that the CBC receives $150 million a year or less, and when they were told that the actual figure is $1.1 billion, 60 percent of people said it was too much. In other words, Harris-Decima’s finding – that 69 percent of people want the CBC’s funding to either stay the same or be increased – is based on ignorance. That’s why the trick is to keep hammering away at the CBC by writing letters to the editor and to your MP, and by supporting Sun TV, who spectacularly broke the longstanding omertà in Canadian journalism by exposing the CBC’s bias to a larger audience night after night.
    I’d sell off the CBC’s assets tomorrow, but I’m not the leader of a democratic country. Realistically – there’s that word again – the fight to privatize/ dismantle the CBC is a long-term cultural battle, not one that can be won by the swipe of a PM’s pen. It doesn’t hurt to ask the PM to eliminate the CBC – it probably helps in the long run, by adding to the anti-CBC voices — but just be aware that it’s not going to happen in the near future, and that his failure to do so in the short term isn’t a betrayal of conservatives.

  39. The CBC is a Left political lobby institution and I would challenge anyone in Canada to refute that with facts.
    Just because you say it don’t make it so. You’re a little light on facts yourself. What you call left is anyone who doesn’t buy into your tedious teabagging hypocrisy. Even Harper sees your ilk as a loony fringe with nowhere else to park your vote.

  40. CBC has become a billion dollar PR media outlet for the political left and we’re forced to fund that abhorent media venue.

  41. I mentioned this on the original thread,but it bears repeating.
    The cbc is not biased. They did an in-depth costly investigation into that accusation and concluded that they are not biased.
    But maybe,if enough people complain,we can get them to do another.

  42. Some Canadians will never Forget the Bastards at CBC…or the lack of a response! Whores they are..
    “Then the time for the game came…and things did not turn out the way they planned. You see, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) decided to air a different game in British Columbia. They figured that the West Coast of Canada would prefer to see the Vancouver Canucks play the California Golden Seals instead of the Maple Leafs playing the Chicago Blackhawks.”
    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/06/sports-legend-revealed-a-father-of-an-nhl-player-held-up-a-tv-station-to-force-them-to-show-his-sons.html

  43. MJ at March 5, 2012 5:48 PM:
    “So in your opinion, turning the CBC into “an official government voicebox” is a “legitimate option”? Where were you raised — North Korea?”
    Wrong comparison — North Korea doesn’t have an independent free media at all, ONLY Government media. All free democratic countries have independent free media, plus Government media, and contrary to N.K. the gov media under democracy is usually controlled by democratically elected Governments and answerable to the taxpayers who fund it.
    All I’m arguing is if we are going to have a Government media then let it be fully controlled by the elected Government and answerable to taxpayers and their representatives — which is essentially the opposite of N.K. But don’t pretend that you are “independent” media while you are being funded by the taxpayer, yet shilling exclusively for Partisan interests or representing only one shade on the political spectrum as the CBC currently does.
    Otherwise, forget it and privatize it.

  44. Hey, Babysitter:
    (Reuters) – Shepard Smith, the 48-year-old Fox News anchor, admits that he was happy hardly anyone watched the network at first.
    What did your magic 8-ball say in 1996? Or were you alive then?

  45. I laugh, *LAUGH*, when I hear people say the CBC is not biased. I know a few CBC insiders, and believe me, they are as biased as they come.
    If the CBC is not biased, then please tell me for example who on CBC provides balance to someone like Suzuki? Who provides an alternative view to his? That’s right: no-one.b
    CBC has for years and years tried to demonize Harper. That’s why you have idiots walking about saying that Harper is a “fascist”. CBC essentially told them so, therefore it must be true.

  46. These trolls could so easily be taken down with facts (CBC ratings for one) but we will resist the temptation and heed the advice to ignore them.
    They really aren’t interested in facts.

  47. “Given that Harper does NOT have a majority (he only got less than 40% of the vote last time), it is clear that the majority of Canadians do not want his brand of controlling, Republicanlike, anti-environment”
    PM Harper achieved the same percentage of votes as the Liberals did in 3 sucessive elections, with Chretien, one of them identical. No problem then. CBC intervened massively in the recent election on the side of Liberal/NDP forces; they have never accepted the results and are today continuing the fight. The CBC vote compass poll is but one example of deperately trying to nudge voters towards the Liberal fold. As long as they raise their own capital this is fine, I just cannot stomach paying the salaries of people who
    openly despise all the values I believe in.

  48. Totally agree with Robert.
    Hope all listened to Ezra Livant today.
    Let’s get rid of the CBC completely.
    Shut them down by not watching.

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