LibrarianActivist.org

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has revealed in an interview (see Dec. 26 audio file) that a document exists in both official languages at Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa which calls for a 200$ million dollar cut to the core parliamentary appropriation of the CBC (CBC’s Parliamentary grant). This document has been in existence prior to the October election. In the interview, it is said that this document flies in the face of a Canadian Heritage report that recommended an increase in CBC funding. From an email that Friend’s sent out, here is what could happen to the CBC:

A $200 million cut to CBC’s parliamentary grant would require amputating a number of broadcasting services on which Canadians depend. For example, in order to save $200 million it would be necessary to scrap most local programming on CBC Radio One and CBC Television throughout Canada, effectively turning CBC into a Toronto Broadcasting Corporation, as well as killing CBC Radio Two and CBC.ca, along with all their French language equivalent services.

From the Christian Science Monitor. An excerpt: “There are people who want to access books,” says the director of the cultural center, Pape Baba Ndiaye, but “sometimes they don’t have money for the transportation. Sometimes they don’t have time.” Furthermore, “there isn’t any funding, and there aren’t enough books. ‘We need the infrastructure: a building, the management system, personnel,’ he adds. ‘We’ll do it, little by little.’”