Source : Globe & Mail

Today I bring you the quote of the week, if not the year, from the Canadian television racket. And it comes out of British Columbia.

Oh, it's all happening out in B.C. People who live there knew that already. And they know I'm not talking about the heavy rains and the flooding.

No sirree. In the TV racket, things are hopping out there. First, there were the Gemini Awards, which took place in some suburb of Vancouver this past Saturday. The broadcast gala of the awards for excellence in Canadian TV, airing on Global, might more accurately be called the "Ohmigawd-it's-the-Evangeline-Lilly-Show!" No offence to Ms. Lilly and her success on Lost, but such was the focus on her that the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, inept organizers of the Geminis, once again made a disgrace of itself.

Meanwhile, that august organization the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), which represents and lobbies on behalf of commercial Canadian radio and TV broadcasters, is having its 80th annual meeting in Vancouver.

With all this TV-racket action unfolding, some members of ACTRA, the organization that represents Canadian actors and performers, made a pitch in Vancouver yesterday for more Canadian drama on TV.

Gabrielle Miller, who plays the comely and adorable Lacey on Corner Gas, made a direct appeal: "We're focusing on more reality television when what we need are new rules to protect our Canadian cultural sovereignty and to get more homegrown dramas on our televisions. The success of Corner Gas is a perfect example of Canadian television programming that audiences want to see. The support and commitment that this television series continues to receive has been critical and we need to build on this success by increased funding and scheduling support for more Canadian dramatic programming."

The response from the head of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters -- the quote of the week -- was staggeringly dismissive, rude and ridiculous. "Does anybody really believe that drama expenditure requirements are the answer to YouTube and/or MySpace?" CAB president Glenn O'Farrell said.

Hello? The CAB president's attitude amounts to this: "Hey loser, here's five bucks. Go and make your little drama for YouTube and see if you get some viewers."

The message is clear. The CAB, which has the privilege of using our publicly owned airwaves to simulcast U.S. TV shows and has the advantage of using protective laws and regulations to insert commercials and make vast amounts of money, wants Canadian artists, writers and performers to get on-line and get lost.

The CAB seems oblivious to the fact that Corner Gas and Trailer Park Boys, both watched and savoured by vast numbers of Canadians, do not actually exist as products of MySpace or YouTube. They're on TV and they are hits, by any standard.

Coddled in the snug embrace of protectionism for decades, the CAB is exhibiting the worst sort of smugness and greed. After 80 years in existence, Canadian commercial broadcasters are still sneering at the very idea of Canadian content.

Well, while you're counting your profits, CAB, and exhibiting the narcissism and hypocrisy of tyrants, remember where you make your money. This is Canada. And this country, like any other, is simply inauthentic if its stories are not reflected back to its people. That's why Canadian publishing is subsidized and Canadian television is regulated.

At the root of the original, decades-old decision to support homegrown storytelling in print or on TV, there was a profound consensus about the need to keep storytelling alive. That consensus still exists.

Sustaining the living thread of storytelling is a necessary endeavour, like ensuring health care and safe drinking water. It is another aspect of literacy.

The stated CAB opinion dismisses this responsibility. Its attitude is "protection for me, but not for you." And it's nauseating.

© Globe and Mail