Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the essential role that CBC/Radio-Canada plays through its national, regional and local broadcasts, including information and news for linguistic minorities all across Canada.
I know that the Conservative government does not believe in CBC/Radio-Canada and that nothing would please it more than to see the end of public broadcasting in Canada. That is an ideological view that ignores the situation in our northern communities in Canada.
Francophone culture in northern Ontario is very reliant on CBC/Radio-Canada to communicate its messages and transmit its news. Northern Ontario is a vast, diverse place where minority groups would not be served at all if not for the corporation.
In northern Canada, as in northern Ontario, there are simply no private networks. CBC/Radio-Canada ensures that the people of the north do not feel completely isolated and feel that they are part of a united country. The people living in the north all know they face major difficulties and obstacles.
The ministers in the Conservative cabinet, however, do not think so. The industry minister claims to be from the north but in an interview with the National Post, he wondered whether we need CBC/Radio-Canada in its current form when there are so many private networks. Those are the words of someone who fails to understand the reality of people living in northern Canada and northern Ontario.
When the Minister of Industry states that there are so many private broadcasting channels available, I have to wonder in what world he lives. It is certainly not in northern Ontario.
Not understanding the living conditions of northern Canada is but one of the shortcomings of the Conservative government. Ideologically, it feels that it can sell everything, all of our national assets, to the highest bidder and everything will take care of itself. It is just a laissez-faire attitude that lets everything rule itself.
That, unfortunately, is not the reality for the people of northern Canada and it is not the reality that they live from day to day. More and more, the people of Canada and the people of the world are realizing that this is a fantasy land that exists only in neo-conservative minds.
The people of northern Ontario, for example, rely on CBC Radio to get their local and regional news. We have seen a slow decline in service over the years but the cuts that are being witnessed currently stand to have an irreversible effect on the CBC as we know it.
I could stand here today and tell members how important I feel CBC is to northern Ontario but I believe that it would be more effective if I read passages from but a few of the letters and messages that I received.
Here is what Garth Goodhew had to say from North Bay:
CBC Radio is a great Canadian institution that joins a vast area and allows us to be one Canadian nation. Cutting services to Northern Ontario will have a devastating effect. I am furious just at the thought of losing CBC in my area.
Mary from Temiskaming Shores wrote:
I am one of the many who are horrified because of the cuts to CBC Radio One in the north particularly Sudbury. Please endeavour to ensure that we do not lose this important aspect of northern life. Densely populated areas have more choices and we need this service in northern regions.
Just before coming here, Rita McDirmid called from Latchford wondering what was going on with CBC. She stated how important it was and how the people of Latchford rely on CBC Radio to get their information.
Charla from Thunder Bay wrote:
CBC has been an integral part of my daily life for as long as I can remember. Growing up in Dryden, Ontario, my family listened to CBC Radio each morning during breakfast and watched The National news each night - I have continued this practice throughout my adult life. The combination of local, regional and national news and the stories delivered by CBC Radio and CBC Television provides a better understanding of the Canadian mosaic past, present and future. Local radio programming provides a local perspective on issues and events that would otherwise be unavailable in small towns such as Dryden, Fort Frances, Kenora and Atikokan. It is vital that this local programming continue to provide a sense of community and to highlight the “goods news stories”, especially during the financial struggles we now face.
Richard Sciuk from Redbridge states:
It's painfully obvious to anyone who takes the time to understand the realities of Northern Ontario; CBC provides a public forum that bridges the distance. We need to stay connected.
Shelly wrote:
As a constituent, I would ask you and/or your government, lobby the powers that be not to cut CBC service in the North. It seems that whenever there are cuts to be made us Northerners always suffer. I don't think that we should take this lying down.
That is but a small sample of what we in northern Ontario are saying about CBC cuts.
What can we look forward to as Canadians? The reality is that the Conservative government has done nothing to prevent the reduction of up to 800 jobs. It has done nothing to stop the scaling back of local programming or regional radio and television programming, and nothing to reduce the reduction in news coverage.
What is even clearer is that even though 800 jobs have been lost and CBC Radio-Canada has been left twisting in the wind by the government, the minister remains unwilling to provide any flexibility or honesty in the face of potentially deeper and more devastating cuts to come.
Destroying CBC Radio-Canada has been part of the Prime Minister's agenda for over a decade and is a goal that the majority of his cabinet supports. They are taking advantage of tough economic times to launch an assault on a national institution. This behaviour by the Conservative government is consistent with its long-stated opposition to government support for CBC-Radio Canada.
In 1995, the now Prime Minister said that reform policy would place the government sponsored loser, and by loser he was referring to the CBC, in a situation where subsidies are weaned away. This is from a government that says that it does not pick winners and losers.
A while back, the Prime Minister and half of his cabinet were saying that they do not pick winners and losers. I guess it depends on when it is convenient for them.
This is not the first time that the government has flip-flopped on something.
On that note, I close with a plea to the Prime Minister and his cabinet to support CBC and to stop ignoring the fact that CBC-Radio Canada is of huge importance to Canadians from coast to coast to coast and, in particular, to the people of northern Ontario.
Simply put, the role and mandate of the CBC-Radio Canada must be preserved and the Conservative government has a responsibility to ensure that these priorities remain intact.