Mr. Speaker, today the president of the CBC confirmed to the heritage committee that due to 16 years of Liberal and Conservative cuts, 17 local supper hour shows are to be reduced to one per time zone each co-hosted from Toronto. The president believes that the only way to save our public broadcaster is by eliminating local English television shows.
Government members were upset about this but I wonder why. They ran in 1993 on a promise of reinvestment in the CBC and then cut the CBC's base budget by hundreds of millions, about as much as is needed to preserve local TV.
Now the Liberals have a decision to make. Either come up with the very significant ongoing funding to rebuild the integrity of local journalism in Canada or endorse the planned cuts through inaction.
I compliment the CBC on having a vision, but I do not share its belief that the private sector will pick up the slack in the 12 abandoned communities. It is a sad day for local television in Canada.