The president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada defended the public broadcaster and its independence Thursday from a fresh barrage of pointed Conservative questions about its coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In total, these four provinces provided at least CAD 2.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies in fiscal year (FY) 2020/21 and 1.5 billion in FY 2021/22 (as of December 2021)
based on recent data from governments and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the leading research organization analysing data on fossil fuel subsidies in Canada, there is a conservative estimate: the combined federal, provincial, and territorial fossil fuel subsidies in Canada total at least $4.8 billion annually in 2018 and 2019, and most were given by provincial and territorial governments. Federal subsidies tend to take the form of grants, but provincial and territorial subsidies are often from tax programs such as waivers and breaks as well as uncollected or under-collected resource rents or royalties
These are simply about explicit funding by different government bodies in Canada. However, there are larger implicit annual subsidies (externalities born by government, society and the environment which tend to be completely ignored by most vested interest) of:
Government funding: This year, operating funding was $1,174.9 million, capital funding recognized in income was $92.9 million and working capital was $4.0 million
I dont mind cutting funding/subsidies where there is inefficiency/mismanagement. However, shouldn’t we start with the most obvious mismanagement? Why does our government pay subsidies (not loans, not investments, not shares, which I completely excluded for my comparison above) for large very profitable multi-national corporation?
The point is that CBC is relatively neutral. There is a small liberal bias, in the sense that conservative generally aren’t engaging with proper arguments, but it’s generally not as biased as other sources.
By reading the Globe, NatPo, Global, CTV, Tyee, Breach, BBC, the Guardian, Bloomberg, etc.
The CBC’s news coverage isn’t unique. The organization has chosen to focus on (relatively) dense urban centres, which already have coverage. There are large swaths of the country that it doesn’t report on unless it receives a press release.
It’s not the uniqueness of the coverage, but the reach. Out here in rural Saskatchewan, our choice is between CBC radio and one other station that has extremely limited news.
CBC not only has better news, but lots of deep dives, analysis, documentaries, and cultural programming. In that sense, it is unique, at least on radio.
Yes, expensive satellite internet or TV is available, and we have it in our house, but many don’t. Newspapers have never really worked that well out here because picking up a stack of papers once a week when going for mail and groceries doesn’t really work. Any sensible reading schedule means always being a week behind whatever comes in via CBC radio.
On top of that, we can listen to the radio while working in the fields or shop or around the house. That makes it easy to stay on top of things without sitting in front of a screen or with a newspaper for a couple of hours a day, when we should be spending time with our families.
As I said, our household can afford satellite internet, but we still get most of our news via CBC radio, because that is the only source of extensive coverage we can get without sitting around. We’d much rather use that sitting time for a good book or education (we have satellite internet specifically for all the online courses that are available).
If CBC television disappeared, I would barely notice, but CBC radio is how we stay connected to the world. If there is to be serious discussion of killing CBC, it should be TV only that gets killed and the money saved should then be put towards getting something in addition to CBC radio out to the rural and remote regions. One great option would be for CBC radio to broadcast Canadaland and other externally produced programming. CBC already doesn’t produce everything they broadcast, so syndicating additional alternative programming covering other viewpoints would be a spectacular use of the system.
Every time CBC gets budgets cut, it hits CBC radio first and hardest. It’s an extremely small portion of the Federal Government’s budget. This has nothing to do with fiscal restraint, and is purely about neocons who don’t like there being a public owned media source existing at all. They want 100% corporate media and nothing less.
Every time CBC gets budgets cut, it hits CBC radio first and hardest
I’m pretty sure that’s a choice made by CBC brass. TV and Internet get ad revenue, so they’re easier to keep, since they partially pay for themselves. Much of the time, I feel like CBC’s worst enemy is their own management.
I guess the question is what Tait means by serving rural communities. If it’s a question of broadcasting stuff from elsewhere into small towns, then CBC is doing fine. But the CBC mandate includes
to contribute to the development of a shared national consciousness and identity; to reflect the regional and cultural diversity of Canada; and to contribute to the development of Canadian talent and culture
IMO “shared” means that the conversation is flows in multiple directions. What you’re describing is mostly unidirectional. CBC’s Canada happens in urban regional hubs and is broadcast to rural areas. Rural Canada gets representation during call in shows, and when some local organization sends a press release to the regional office. That’s not bad, but it’s not great either.
One great option would be for CBC radio to broadcast Canadaland
CBC already doesn’t produce everything they broadcast, so syndicating additional alternative programming covering other viewpoints would be a spectacular use of the system.
I don’t have strong feelings about CBC’s viewpoint. It makes me sad that CBC radio finds time to broadcast This American Life in place of CanCon. But whatevs.
I guess we’re in agreement in many areas. CBC does as bad as everyone at actually covering rural regions and representing us to the wider world.
And hearing “This American Life” on CBC was very disappointing. My first thought was that there are plenty of Canadian stories being told in local outlets and podcasts that are more deserving of wider distribution. There are more CBC programs being picked up elsewhere, so maybe there are larger cross-distribution deals in play, but the US already looms large; they don’t need help getting the word out.
All it took in the US was Mr. Fucking Rogers to go before Congress to get them to fund PBS. It’s been aggressively targeted since and now the Corp/Conservatives are using culture wars bigot dogwhistles to say it advances LGBTQ causes, since those have also been programmed into right wing news to be synonymous with pedophilia. Interestingly, or course, most of the flock goes to church but I digress…
Publicly funded means that the company or corporation works for the public good … most of the time it works this way until corporate infiltration undermines it all.
Private funding always means that whatever the service or product is … profit will always be the motivating factor and everything including morals, rights, decency and fairness will all be sacrificed in order to maintain profits.
Whether you like public or private funding of anything … always remember that public funding at least tries to place public interest first … private funding always places public interest last.
Not if you ask “Canadian Tax payers association” (who seem to be an arm of the Conservative party) they’ll throw shade about how CBC TV (no mention of the radio part of the CBC) doesn’t meet their standards.
I hate that these guys can pretend to represent the Canadian Tax payer, when all they want is to get social services for free. Welfare bums.
Defunding the CBC would have devastating effects on all of Canada. Welcome to the world of corporate sponsored misinformation. Remember, this is what the CPC is campaigning on.
This among other major reasons why the current federal polling looks so scary. If the current numbers actually bear out in an election we will be monumentally fucked. Perhaps permanently. I keep telling myself that there are large swings during election campaigns to make myself feel better but there’s a part at the back of my brain that is screaming.
[Ms] Tait said defunding the CBC would be devastating to its ability to meet its mandate to serve all Canadians, and rural communities in particular.
devastating effects on all of Canada.
If you’d read the article, you’d have seen the “rural communities in particular”.
Welcome to the world of corporate sponsored misinformation
I’m not sure where this is ‘corporate sponsored[sic] misinformation’, since
the statement was made by the President of a publicly-funded organization
the statement wasn’t misinformation
Remember, this is what the CPC is campaigning on.
This part is easy to agree with as we have a wealth of trending that points to double-talk and misinformation. In fact, the last paragraph of the article includes an example of Conservative false-equivalence.
I think you grossly misunderstood me. To be fair, I can see how, and should have been more clear.
I was attempting to insinuate that defunding the CBC is our route to corporate sponsered misinformation taking it’s place in entirety.
This is perhaps the issue with taking a paragraph and breaking it into its smaller parts, addressing each one in a vaccum. Taken as a whole, it’s pretty clear if I am defending the CBC and therefore, it’s likely that I do not think this article, specifically, is misinformation. I am simply adding to the headline that all of Canada is in trouble, not just rural Canada. Yes, this is a fact which is stated in the article, and I never disputed otherwise. I just wanted to emphasize that point as people have a tendency to read headlines and move on.
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