O O Ø O O O O
Axe the CBC
Canadian culture does not hinge on government support.
Last Friday I received the following email:
Please add your name and forward it to everyone you know who believes in Canadian culture. Each time you reach another hundred names please forward the list to Sheila Copps. Thank you.
To the Honourable Sheila Copps:
Canadian stories told by Canadians for Canadians. This is what is at stake.
With the recent budget cutbacks and funding shortfall, the following television shows may not be made: The Eleventh Hour, Royal Canadian Air Farce, The Red Green Show, An American in Canada, The Sean Cullen Show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made in Canada, The Newsroom plus countless cultural and children’s programs. Shows that we are proud of. Shows that make us laugh. Shows that make us think. Shows that we will stand up for. Please.
Obviously, those that crafted this email were hoping for a Make-Stockwell-Day-Change-His-First-Name-To-Doris-style tsunami of support to cross the country.
I was happy to see that the list of appended names at the bottom of the email had only grown to ten, so there appears to be little nationwide support for The Newsroom and its brethren.
These shows are described as “Canadian stories told by Canadians for Canadians.” The authors leave out the part about these stories being paid for by Canadians at the point of a gun. Canadians can’t choose to not support these programmes, because tax laws are implemented by threat of force. Withhold your taxes, and someone with a weapon will take you and put you in jail. That’s the law. Never mind that the government may be using your tax dollars to fund something completely antithetical to your world view.
Who is Sean Cullen, anyway?
The list of shows deemed critical to the wellbeing of Canadian culture is mildly amusing. Out of the whole batch, I would venture to say that the vast majority of Canadians have only watched This Hour with any regularity, if at all.
When I first heard of these particular cutbacks, accompanied by incredulous indignation that Canada’s most popular political parody show was facing the axe, I immediately surmised that the smart people at Salter Street Productions, (who also brought us Bowling For Columbine) would trot the show down the street to CTV or Global Media. Either would snap it up in a moment.
I like This Hour. It gives Canadian politics a human edge that’s distinctly lacking south of the border. These days, we expect Canadian politicians to pillory themselves on national TV, usually at the point of Marg Delahunty’s sword, or in some inane Parliament Hill sing-along. I just hope the show hasn’t jumped the shark with Rick Mercer’s departure.
As for the others:
- Royal Canadian Air Farce was a fairly pleasant radio show, which in turn transformed into a decidedly painful television programme.
- An American In Canada falls into that category of awkward-to-watch Canadian shows that don’t use enough music to propel the scenes forward. I’ve heard it’s good. (But not from consistently reliable sources.) I like the idea that it takes place in Cowtown. I’ve never watched an entire episode.
- I don’t understand the vibe from Made In Canada, even though I want to like it.
- The Sean Cullen Show. Variety TV? This is 2003. These days we use the remote to provide variety.
- I’ve never heard of The Eleventh Hour or The Newsroom. Yet I’m supposed to pledge my tax dollars for their production?
- And only old people watch The Red Green Show.
My point is, wouldn’t you rather support those shows that can stand on their own merit, rather than have the whole lot of them forcibly supported to further some sort of political agenda? The CBC's mission is to further the Liberal party’s ideas of Canadian Culture, further the careers of those who are close to Sheila Copps, and further the status quo agenda of those pulling the levers in Ottawa.
CBC’s Brutal Slant
For justification, I think back to the CBC’s news coverage of the last federal election. As the early results trickled in, it appeared that the Liberals were off to a rocky start, and that a majority government was in serious jeopardy. CBC’s commentators made jittery comments to this effect. Then, as further results came in and the Liberal landslide in Ontario made it official, the relief became evident on the faces of every CBC newsman and political flak. The entire newsroom was freakin’ giddy about the Liberal victory, and spent the rest of the evening fawning all over themselves about how this was a tremendous vote of confidence for the Natural Ruling Party. Casually, they reported the remaining mandatory protest votes from out West.
The CBC is not just the media arm of big government, it’s the active promotional vehicle of the big Liberal government status quo. Cutting back the CBC would be a tactical mistake on the part of the Liberal government. Let's encourage them to make this mistake and more like it. (Note: The threatened loss of these programmes doesn’t actually come from direct CBC cutbacks, but from a lack of federal funding to the Canadian Television Fund. The effect is the same.)
Hockey Night in Canada would look great on TSN. And those who don’t appreciate hockey in general, or Don Cherry in particular, wouldn’t have to support it through taxes. Choice is good. Let's let Canadians decide what constitutes actual Canadian culture, through the democratizing effects of our remote controls, rather than the dirty political machinations of the existing apparatus.
Evan Spence
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
PD DXCVI