He didn't have the support to kill the CBC, but did have the power to hobble it mildly as a kind of pointless gesture to the knuckle-draggers in his political base.
A lot of good people, many of whom had turned down more lucrative offers in the U.S. to work for CBC, lost their jobs back then too.
And, wife, as for all that stuff between me and GritGirl, it all meant nothing.
Anyway I did it for Canada.
4 comments:
A reminder of Liberal "support" for the CBC, from the mid-1990s:
"Phased in over the next 18 months, the cutbacks will bring to $414 million the total CBC budget reductions, which were first imposed by the Liberal government in 1994. The cuts will affect every aspect of the national broadcaster, whose current budget, including ad revenues and parliamentary disbursements, totals about $1.4 billion and includes 9,000 employees. English-language CBC Radio will lose one in three staff positions - about 500 jobs - and budget cuts will total $34 million. Program budgets for CBC Radio will drop by 28 per cent. No regional stations will close (over half the division's budget will still be spent on those stations), but their spending will be decreased according to market size. A number of programs will be cancelled. French-language radio's budget, meanwhile, will drop by $20 million, to $62 million, with 238 jobs eliminated from the existing 952, and French-language stations in Vancouver, Regina and Edmonton will be downgraded to bureaus of the main network. The French television wing will see a budget decrease of $70 million, with staff reductions of 304 employees, or 30 per cent."
I'll give GritGirl this: she comes by the first part of her nom-de-guerre honestly, having no shame whatever over accusing the Cons of doing something her own party has done.
What's next, a GritGirl video on the Cons' responsibility for the student debt carried by the Paul Martin generation of Canadian post-secondary grads?
Selective memories - 1994 - Canada was losing it's credit rating and the CCP was in crisis - what the hell do the Cons expect when they leave a mess. It had to be cleaned up so Stephen's boloney is just that.
Sandi's Liberal spinsters have taught her well.
I'd advise people looking at this issue to regard the full record, however.
Stephen, I don't listen to any spin people and neither should you.
I remember those Mulroney days well and it wasn't pretty. Besides, it's not just about funding - it's about the Cons trying to destroy the CBC.
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