I caught you a delicious bass...

I've been reading a lot of people commenting in various forums about folks who think we have to get rid of the CBC in order to save the Canadian health care system. Why?

The CBC is a fundamental part of our country - just like the right to break your leg and not worry about your Visa balance. Canada has a lot of problems, like our need to find and retain more professional young people, or our need to provide enough doctors for people, or our need to provide our military with reliable equipment (not to depose the mideast enemy of the month, mind you, but to help put out forest fires in BC, or to help turn the lights back on after an ice storm in Quebec...these kinds of things). I'd rather we concentrated on these things than blamed CBC for the problems with Medicare.

Why do we have to cut public services? Why not cut tax breaks to corporations? Why don't we look at how much money the banks make (what's that? you say you lost money this year? I guess you shouldn't have gotten involved with Enron then, should you...)? The plain truth is that there is a lot more that Canada could be doing, rather than looking at which GREAT parts of the country we should chop up.

I watched TV news last night for the first time since the lockout began. It was BAD! Memo to CBC brass - get a scab who can actually read! There was a nice item on people in Quebec who fill their gas tanks really slowly as a protest against pump prices, and maybe something else but it was all pretty lame. then they switched to BBC news which while it is nice, it's not what CBC should be doing.

Oh hey - I got a letter from Liza Frulla, Minister of canadian Heritage, about the letter I wrote her asking that she get involved. Actually, it wasn't her that responded, it was some guy named Luc Rouleau, who is Director of Ministerial Correspondance Secreteriat:

The Minister appreciates your advising her of
your views and hascarefully noted your comments
with respect to this matter. While theDepartment
of Canadian Heritage is responsible for overall
broadcastingpolicy and legislation, the CBC operates
independently of the Governmentunder a framework provided in the Broadcasting
Act. As an autonomous Crowncorporation, its Board of Directors
and senior management are responsiblefor its day-to-day operations, including
its labour relations.

In view of the autonomy of the CBC, you might
wish to share yourviews directly with Mr. Robert
Rabinovitch, its President and ChiefExecutive Officer, at the
address provided in the enclosure.

So there you go. Thank you for passing the buck, M. Rouleau. I
guess I'll write to Mr. Rabinovitch.

Here are some reasons you can find on line:

1. Because God hates homosexuals. From Repent America:

"Southern Decadence" has a history of filling the French Quarters section of the city with drunken homosexuals engaging in sex acts in the public streets and bars...This year’s 34th annual "Southern Decadence" was set for Wednesday, August 31, 2005 through Monday, September 5, 2005, but due to massive flooding and the damage left by the hurricane, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has ordered everyone to evacuate the city...New Orleans was a city that had its doors wide open to the public celebration of sin. From the devastation may a city full of righteousness emerge...We must help and pray for those ravaged by this disaster, but let us not forget that the citizens of New Orleans tolerated and welcomed the wickedness in their city for so long..."

2. Because God hates abortion, and America allows it. From Columbia Christians for Life as quoted in Salon.com (you'll need to watch the commercial if you don't have a subscription):

"The image of the hurricane ... with its eye already ashore at 12:32 p.m. Monday, August 29, looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation (approx. 6 weeks)," the e-mail message says. "Even the orange color of the image is reminiscent of a commonly used pro-life picture of early prenatal development"...the Columbia Christians for Life have an answer for everything. God has already punished California with earthquakes, forest fires and mudslides; New York with 9/11; and Florida with Hurricanes Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and the early version of Katrina.

** Interestingly, when I tried to find the original version of this press release, I couldn't. Anyone?

I actually have my own theory on this one, too - Y'see, in the 2004 presidential election, most of Louisiana voted for Bush, but New Orleans went overwhelmingly towards Kerry. So maybe this means that God was actually only punishing the city of New Orleans?

3. Because the US government doesn't give a rat's patootie about anything except the war in Iraq. I'm leaning a little more towards this one than the other two. It seems that despite all of the evidence saying New Orleans' levees were in need of serious work, and despite the Army Corps of Engineers telling the federal government that they needed money, the Bush administration did nothing. Well, no, I shouldn't say "nothing" - this article seems to maybe possibly suggest that the President and his people actually made it worse. Have a look at it:

Did New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen? 'Times-Picayune' Had Repeatedly Raised Federal Spending Issues

Here's part of a letter I sent off to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, as well as the federal minnister of Labour and a few others:



"...would private sector broadcasters send NHL hockey for free all over the country, from downtown Toronto to the high arctic? I think not. Use the same analogy and substitute news, movies, comedy, documentaries, or whatever other form of entertainment you prefer on either radio or TV, and you get the same result. The CBC is the only broadcaster committed to providing information to every single Canadian.

CBC brass may argue that the Corporation needs to become more like private sector broadcasters, but I would like to state unequivocally that this is not so. In fact, the CBC needs to not act like others, simply because it performs a different service. If it turns into a carbon copy of Global, CTV, CHUM, or Chorus, what is the point of having it at all? The CBC must also be allowed to continue nurturing, training, and rewarding its staff. The less job security, the less pride of workmanship there is in any situation. The CBC is a vital institution and must not be sacrificed on this alter of supposed “competitiveness”. Why pay a staff member when you can contract someone to do it for half the price? The answer is that Canadians will get what they pay for, and they will not be happy.

The people we hear and see on CBC are our friends – we spend time with them every day and they bring something to our lives that reminds us we are Canadian. I urge you to intervene and let our friends go back to work. Public broadcasting makes Canada great, and quality staff make Canadian public broadcasting great. Please don’t let the CBC management kill it."