Nominations to the CBC board should be made by a number of sources, and the CBC president should be hired and be responsible to the board.
The second point is that Parliament should instruct the CBC's board to attach a high priority to the Broadcasting Act's mandate to reflect Canada and its regions through national and regional audiences while serving the special needs of these regions.
The third point is that Parliament should invite CBC's board to develop a business plan to address its regional responsibilities, wean itself from dependence on television advertising and foreign programs, and strengthen the presentation of Canadians' stories in prime time.
The fourth point I want to highlight is that to fund that plan Parliament should offer to increase the CBC's budget drastically by annual increments of at least $100 million over the next five years. We see it as an investment in updating Canada's social infrastructure. As the Lincoln report made clear, such an investment would bring Canadians only to the average of OECD countries' spending on civic pride. If you put it in this context, by 2012 Canada would be spending 15ยข per person per day to support a vigorous, locally relevant public broadcasting system.
Ian.