Your answer was right, in that the government isn't here to.... Nobody would propose that the government tell the CBC what to do and how to program. The CBC does, in my view, a mixed job about responsiveness to the audience, but that's not a function of its funding.
In terms of accountability, there are two kinds of accountability it needs to have. One is accountability to the government, and I believe it can be done through a memorandum of understanding. In this case the CBC says they will do X, Y, and Z, and that you will pay them x, y, and z dollars for seven years. Then they know where they're coming from, and you know what you're getting. That's the relationship between the CBC and the government. It makes perfect sense. They get predictability.
Now, in terms of the CBC and its audience, in that document you can tell them to beef up their responsiveness to their audience and to make sure their board of directors is functioning in that regard. The board of directors is supposed to be the link between the audience and the CBC.
If that's an important issue for the government that is providing this contract, it can say to the CBC that this is important: if you're going to engage in a contract with us--