Mr. Speaker, it is indeed a pleasure to rise in this House in support of my colleague's private members' motion 278 which calls for the federal government to immediately initiate the privatization of all or part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The topic of privatizing the CBC comes at a very interesting time. During debate on Bill C-17, the ominbus bill on budget implementation, it was no surprise that members of the government opposite were staunchly defending the CBC. They claimed the CBC is the vehicle for protecting Canadian tradition and heritage with its programming.
However, today I would be very interested to hear what these same members of the Liberal Party would say. Several weeks ago CBC television announced it was changing its programming. It is now going to make a grab for ratings and revenue with a fall schedule that has more U.S. drama and fewer Canadian entertainment programs in prime time.
It would appear that CBC television is moving away from being the voice which preserves Canadian culture. It would appear the CBC television is moving away from programming which is chock full of Canadian heritage.
It would appear the arguments used by numerous Liberals during the Bill C-17 debate now have a somewhat hollow ring to them. The fiscal and economic realities of the day demand that the CBC make these changes. I submit that for the CBC to become truly viable and competitive it should move toward privatization.
It is quite interesting to note how times have changed. In the words of CBC vice president, Jim Byrd, it would be nice if we could stick our heads in the sand and say let us not worry about revenue. Mr. Byrd realizes that the CBC cannot proceed this way as he explained why the corporation is moving toward more U.S. programming. Not long ago this type of head in the sand thinking was indeed the norm for CBC. Given the debate on Bill C-17 it would appear that line of thinking was prevalent among some members of this House.
Unfortunately Canadian taxpayers can no longer afford to foot the $1 billion plus bill it costs to run the CBC every year. The taxpayer thinks in terms of dollars and cents. The taxpayer cannot understand why he or she must pay for something they generally seem not to want.
If one looks at the ratings of the CBC it becomes apparent that the CBC is not a very high priority for Canadians. In the interests of clarity I will outline 10 reasons why the CBC should move toward privatization.
The taxpayer of this country would seem to demand it according to the ratings and the fiscal realities that face the government demand it as well.
First, only 15 per cent of television viewers watched the CBC's English network for some part of the day in the 1990-91 season. The trend continued into the 1992-93 season when only 13.5 per cent of the viewing audience were tuning in to CBC television.
Reason number two is the declining audience viewing CBC during prime time which is between 7 and 11 p.m. In 1990-91 only 15.8 per cent of viewers were watching the CBC during prime time hours, which is any network's bread and butter. Two years later only 13.6 per cent were watching.
The third reason the CBC should be privatized lies within the programming. Huge sums of money are being squandered. A case in point is the marginal French service being offered by CBC radio stations in many parts of the country. CBUF-FM, the CBC's French language FM radio station in Vancouver, has a staff of 25 and an annual budget of $2.2 million. Its average audience in any given quarter hour over its entire broadcast area is 100 people. This is according to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. It is quite obvious that this is not an optimum use of taxpayers' money.
The fourth reason, and it is similar to the previous one, can be seen in Edmonton's French language station, CHFA, which has a staff of 32 and an annual budget of $2.4 million. Again, according to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, the station is lucky if it tops 600 listeners.
The fifth reason is that overall funding is increasing for the CBC while the number of people tuning in is decreasing. According to the CBC's 1993 financial statement, over $941 million was spent on CBC television. One year earlier $913 million was spent. What is the justification for spending $28 million more on CBC television when fewer people are watching?
The sixth reason is that overall funding for CBC radio services went up from $293 million in 1992 to over $307 million in 1993 but listnership is declining. In 1991, 12.6 per cent of the listening audience had their dial tuned into CBC English radio. One year later only 11.7 per cent were listening.
A similar pattern occurs when we consider CBC French radio. In the spring of 1990, 9.1 per cent were tuned in compared to only 8.7 per cent in the fall of 1992. What is the justification for funding increases?
Reason number seven is the poor performance of CBC English television during the supper hour from 6 to 7 p.m. The regional CBC television stations cannot compete with their private counterparts during the all-important news hour.
In Edmonton the CBC news hauled in a paltry 8 per cent of viewers during the supper hour in 1992. In 1993 viewership dropped to 5 per cent. The same can be said on almost all regional CBC networks. In Regina the CBC was watched by 25 per cent of the viewers during the news hour in 1992. That number was cut by over half with only 12 per cent watching in 1993. The trend seems to be nationwide, fewer people watching, yet it takes more and more money to run the CBC.
Reason number eight is something called debt. Recent estimates put the CBC at a shortfall of $180 million over the next four years. The CBC has a $45 million deficit on its operating budget on revenues of over $1 billion.
Reason number nine deals with the CBC's power to borrow money. Why is the federal government allowing the CBC to borrow money in the first place? Would it not be more financially sound to privatize, at the very least, portions of its operations, thereby realizing substantial savings? The savings could then be applied to finance new cost effective ventures.
Last but not least, the tenth reason for privatizing the CBC is the very nature of its existence. The CBC is changing its mandate. No longer will CBC television be the vehicle for Canadian culture and heritage. It is moving to more U.S. content in order to boost its ratings. Taxpayer dollars are no longer required to support the old mandate of protecting and promoting Canadian culture.
For the CBC to have the incentive to go after advertising dollars and increase its ratings, it certainly should move toward privatization. Privatization would ensure a viable CBC that should make money rather than fritter it away.
In the last 10 years about 2,000 jobs have been cut at the CBC in an effort to downsize and streamline the crown corporation. Despite drastic cuts to the staff budget, CBC's deficit continues to climb. There is no incentive at the management level to ensure a bottom line.
The federal government took another step toward killing the CBC's profit motive by giving it the authority to borrow another $25 million. As long as this type of practice continues the CBC will remain an indebted corporation, and that is unacceptable to Canadian taxpayers. It is time for a major overhaul of "mother corporation".