Source : Montreal Gazette

by Lawrence Martin

Every government has one. A list of things about it that just don't make sense. At or near the top of the Chrétien compendium must surely be the Liberal policy toward the CBC. Gut it. Kick it in the teeth. Strip $400 million from its already aching budget. Leave it hanging on a thread.

This, while government revenues grow like beanstalks. This, while the public broadcaster is under invasion from a zillion specialty channels. This while globalization dictates that national cultural institutions are more important than they've ever been. This, while the CBC is proving with its history series that, given the resources, it can do sparkling work.

The Chrétien government has little on its plate. No big plans for the third term. It is going down in history as a political success story, but it hardly a raving policy success story.

It might begin ratcheting up its policy reputation with a major revitalization and reform of the network, a move that could serve as the cornerstone of a new national policy aimed at preserving Canadian values in the face of unrelenting American economic integration. It could consist in part of a whopping infusion of $500 million into the CBC budget.

This would still leave the CBC far behind its British counterpart, the BBC, in per-capita funding. A BBC which, by comparison, has a minuscule land mass to serve. Real courage, which would be viewed with real outrage but would constitute a future bulwark against continental drift, would be a boost of even more than half a billion to our national network. A half billion, though, would at least cover the $400 million it has suffered in cuts.

With such an outlay, Ottawa would have to counter harsh opposition from the West. It sees the CBC, with some justification, as the navel-gazing and overbearing Toronto Broadcasting Corporation.

What to do? Move it west. Start shifting the CBC headquarters and some production facilities to Winnipeg, which is seen as West but is really the centre.

The reasons why the Corp. has been on a starvation diet are threefold: the big national deficit of the mid-1990s, the prime minister's fear that the French-language CBC was supporting separatism and the suspicion that the network gave him unfair coverage.

All these negatives are gone. The deficit has vanished. The threat of Quebec secession is at its lowest ebb in a long time. The CBC – just ask the Canadian Alliance – has been fair to this government.

A bold reform would stem the CBC's descent, serve as a strike against western alienation and be a counterstroke to continentalism.

A third measure Ottawa should undertake would be to fill the vacant CBC chairman's position with a non-partisan who, contrary to tradition, would not be at war with the CBC president. A name being floated around in Ottawa is that of Jeffrey Simpson. "Simpson understands the CBC," said Ian Morrison, head of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. "He understands the country, he's bilingual, he understands journalism and he would not be a political appointment."

Simpson, the longtime columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail, sees eye to eye with current CBC boss Bob Rabinovitch. It is no secret that, like many other journalists at his once-esteemed national paper, he is hardly enthused at how the Globe is increasingly taking on the look and personality of a tabloid; this under a British editor steeped in that frothy tradition.

A strange aspect of Rabinovitch's stewardship is that he hasn't aggressively pursued the government for more funding. The suspicion is that as a condition for taking the job, Rabinovitch agreed not to come seeking more money. Recently, he said it still isn't time to approach the Liberals. But given today's big surplus and signs of an economic downturn, there might never be a better time.

In its red book of policy priorities, the Liberals recognized the priority of Canada carving out a unique cultural presence. They have fought to save Canadian magazines from foreign competition. But the CBC, which tells more Canadian stories in a week than magazines do in a year, has been the victim of politicians bearing grudges.

Now is the time, with the PM rich in financial and political capital, to set grudges aside, don the mantle of statesman and initiate a new national policy by taking the corpse out of the Corp.

© The Gazette