CBC singled out for vindictive cuts

In today’s Budget, the Harper government has broken itselection promise and cut the CBC’s budget by 10% – this is $115 million!

This will require CBC to cut hundreds of staff, including some of the most famous personalities from flagship TV and Radio shows, thereby incurring heavy separation costs, putting further downward pressure on programming.

We were expecting something like this, but it’s shocking when you consider the impact of these cuts:

• The death of Radio 2
• Reduced depth, quality, diversity and distinctiveness of CBC News
• CBC Radio will be less relevant to Canadians
• Canadian bureaus in major cities around the world will be closed
• Further reductions to cultural programs
• CBC Television will look a lot more like private-sector commercial channels

The Table below (Budget 2012, page 269) shows how CBC has been singled out for cuts in the “Heritage Portfolio”, where other cultural institutions, such as the Canada Council and the National Gallery have been spared:

We are not going to take this lying down!

Now we have to mobilize CBC’s supporters – 8 out of 10 Canadians – to hold Stephen Harper’s government to account in the years leading to the next election, when the impact of what Harper has done today will be painfully obvious.

Thanks for standing with us as we move forward with this fight for Canadian culture and democracy! You will hear from us again soon.