OTTAWA – The CBC has welcomed a report from the Standing Committee on Canadian
Heritage that recognizes the role of the public broadcaster as an essential institution that
requires long-term support and reinforcement.
But there were mixed reviews from ACTRA and words of warning from the Friends of
Canadian Broadcasting.
ACTRA said the government already missed a chance in this week’s budget to back up
the Committee’s words with money, while the Friends pointed to the dissenting opinion
from the Committee’s Conservative minority which it said sets the CBC up to fail.
The majority report, CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in the Changing
Media Landscape, calls for a new relationship between Canadians and their public
broadcaster, and proposes a seven-year plan setting out the services Canadians should
expect and the resources necessary to provide them.
“It’s positively encouraging to see the Committee recognize the value of public
broadcasting to Canadians – on all platforms, old, new and emerging,” said CBC/Radio-
Canada President Hubert T. Lacroix in a statement.
“In the face of sweeping cultural, technological and industrial change, Canadians need
a place for distinctive Canadian content. This report to the Government asserts the
meaning and importance of public broadcasting for all Canadians, and shows how it
improves our democratic and cultural lives.”
The report noted “the vast majority of the evidence stressed the distinctiveness of
CBC/Radio-Canada, reflected in the quality, originality and creativity of its
programming. Being distinctive should not however mean being inaccessible. Its services
must be accessible to the various elements of the Canadian public”.
Lacroix said the “the proposed seven-year cycle – with increased, committed funding
indexed to the cost of living for its duration – would go a long way to help fulfil a new
promise to Canadians and ensure that people’s expectations of public broadcasting may
be measured and met against collectively set goals.
“In all, the Committee’s report has very aptly captured the challenges facing public
broadcasting in Canada and provided valuable recommendations for the future.”
ACTRA praised the report for recommending increased funding for the CBC and its
recognition of the right of artists to be paid for their work in new media.
“Canada’s professional performers are supporters of the CBC and we recognize the
important role our public broadcaster plays in our nation’s cultural fabric. This report
recognizes the CBC’s importance and calls for much needed increased, multi-year
funding,” ACTRA National President said Richard Hardacre.
However, he said, “sadly, the government has already missed the boat on some of these
recommendations. The federal budget just this week could have made good on the
committee’s recommendation to make CBC’s ‘one-time’ $60 million in additional
funding a permanent commitment.
The watchdog group, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, welcomed the majority report
as a “positive contribution”, but said the report from the dissenting Conservatives would
expand the gap between CBC’s mandate and the resources available to meet it.
“The dissenting report sets the CBC up to fail. It calls for CBC to do more but denies
CBC the required resources. It is a road map that would be extremely damaging to the
CBC, especially its English television network,” said Friends’ spokesperson Ian
Morrison.
He said the Conservatives disagreed with the majority report which recommended
increasing CBC funding to $40 per capita, new funding to finance the expansion of CBC
radio, and more Canadian content during prime time viewing hours on CBC’s English
television network.
Morrison said the minority opinion reflects comments made in 2004 by Prime Minister
Stephen Harper when, as Opposition Leader, he said “I’ve suggested that government
subsidies in support of CBC’s services should be to those things that are not… do not
have commercial alternatives.”
Meanwhile, the CBC’s Lacroix said he looks forward to working with the government
to develop a new long-term arrangement. But he noted that the Committee’s report
recognized that the continued health of public broadcasting requires a more urgent
response on the funding of the transition to HD, and the financing of new digital content.
ACTRA said the report could have gone further in some areas.
“We have a crisis in Canadian dramatic programming,” said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA
National Executive Director, “and the committee could have recommended the CBC do
more for drama. The committee has a lot to say about new media, but nowhere does it
call on the CRTC to revisit its new media exemption. It’s time the CRTC stepped in to
ensure we have Canadian content choices when it comes to broadcasting on the Internet.”
