No, I don't think you can make the argument. Nobody can sit here and make the argument that $1.16 billion of public funds is an efficient allocation of public funds. It clearly isn't. We live in a 200 channel universe; 190 of the channels cost the taxpayers just about nothing, and 10 of the channels—the CBC channels—cost $1 billion. How do you square that? It makes absolutely no sense.
That being the case, government is running a some $30 billion deficit. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of instances of taxpayers' funds being wasted. The CBC is a huge political and cultural issue. As soon as you mention the word CBC, everybody chooses a side. If it weren't the CBC, I'm sure that the official opposition wouldn't be providing such a vigorous defence of them because of everything the CBC represents—you know, Peter Mansbridge, Tommy Hunter, Charlie Farquharson. It's the whole CBC history of the last 75 years.
At the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, we've just not made it a big priority to engage in that particular cultural struggle.