OTTAWA – After hearing from CBC executives on October 27th, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has told Parliament it should appoint a task force to examine the nation’s public broadcaster.
The five-paragraph report from committee chair, MP Marlene Catterall says, “the government should undertake to establish an independent task force to review the mandate role and services of the CBC-SRC; to establish the role the public broadcaster must have and the services it must provide in light of the new media environment and technological advances.
And, the review should “be commenced immediately so the task force report can be completed and made public in a timely fashion so that it will provide input into the public process leading up to the Corporation’s licence renewal in 2007.
“That the government provide the Task force with the needed resources to undertake a fulsome process including reasonable opportunity for public participation in regions across this country.
“That the government, when establishing this independent task force, do so under the advisement of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, and that the membership reflect that of this committee,” concludes the report to Parliament
The government, facing all sorts of other issues, like trying to stay in power, seems otherwise preoccupied at the moment, however and it’s not clear whether this recommendation will be acted upon.
