Canada's Public Broadcaster

Although not uncommon at any time, recently we have seen extraordinary amounts of criticism being levelled at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - the CBC. People are criticising the corporation's costs, cultural merits, political leanings, and journalistic standards.

The CBC receives $1.1 billion in annual public funds (Ottawa Sun). Considering there are 34 million taxpayers in Canada (CTF), this works out to an average cost of roughly $35 per person per year, or under three dollars per month. I pay more than than monthly just to get one cable channel, never mind three national radio services, the main CBC Television network, Radio Canada, CBC News Network, and all of CBC's outstanding online services. I would be happy to pay double to maintain the same quality and calibre of programming I receive from the CBC.

Canada's public broadcaster employs over nine thousand individuals from coast-to-coast and around the world. The CBC has been a starting point for many of my friends in their journalism and broadcasting careers, and adds in immeasurable value to the cultural, artistic, and social fabric of our country. In my opinion, the CBC takes on challenges in producing brilliant Canadian content that most for-profit broadcasters wouldn't dare touch, it grows the careers of Canadian journalists, artists, actors, producers and writers, and it is a company which reinvests the public funds it receives to the public benefit.

The CBC has become an integral part of Canadian culture and identity, it reflects who we are as a nation, it tells our stories and in turn we influence and shape the CBC. I am proud to know we have such a brilliant cultural entity and I would be devastated to lose our public broadcaster or see it slowly dismantled.

To inspect how the CBC invests its public/advertiser funds, see this document: cbc.radio-canada.ca/about/pdf/who.pdf