O’Toole’s promise to defund CBC won’t fly
Newly-elected Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole is calling for some form of defunding the CBC. This makes little sense.
Past prime ministers have been critical of the CBC. Usually, Conservatives see leftist bias, while Liberals suspect intrusion by Quebec separatists. Examples supporting these views can always be found. But, by and large, the CBC tries to be as fair and balanced as humanly possible. Every government would prefer a CBC that sang its praises all the time, but that won’t happen. With its extensive coverage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s challenges involving his trip to the Aga Khan island, his SNC-Lavalin tribulations, and WE fiasco, it certainly hasn’t happened during his time in office.
During my 10 years with the CBC, I had numerous discussions with senior cabinet ministers and three prime ministers. These are documented in my memoirs (A Journey from Sicily). In their remarks to me, former prime ministers Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney regretted some of their earlier criticisms. When prime minister Jean Chrétien stated, in the context of the looming 1995 referendum on Quebec sovereignty, that “the CBC should inform people of the advantages of Canada,” I felt compelled to issue a statement that “bringing out the advantages of Canada would be a consequence of providing objective reporting.” My comments led to the headline “CBC president Tony Manera contradicts the Prime Minister.” While that had not been my intent, it served the purpose of distinguishing the CBC as a public broadcaster, not a state broadcaster.
Should Mr. O’Toole become prime minister, he might do well to dust off the 2008 report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, issued under the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. That report confirmed the CBC’s role as
“an institution at the centre of cultural, political, social and economic life in Canada.” It also recommended that its core funding be increased to an amount of least $40 per capita. That doesn’t sound like “defunding” to me. Tony Manera, former president and CEO of CBC/Radio Canada, Ottawa