CKNW Editorial
for May 23, 2000

The reaction of the CBC claque, that dedicated band of elitists who believe that the unity of the nation depends upon the continued pouring of money into the rathole that this government propaganda machine has become, have sent me much email. The argument they make is that the CBC represents our only defence against the Americanization of our culture. This corporation, which laps up American advertising to bring us American sitcoms is somehow superior to those in the private sector who do the same thing.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has been a divisive intrusion into our lives from the outset. It’s purpose may have been national unity and protection of Canadian culture – whatever the hell that might be – but the reality is that it immediately pitted French Canada against English Canada by dividing the corporation in two. Radio-Canada, Montreal, now a hotbed of tax supported separatists was to dish out publicly funded radio and TV to French Speakers and the rest of Canada was to be told what Canada was all about by CBC Toronto. The regions of Canada were what Toronto assumed them to be and were presented through their filter. And it happens to this day. Take for example political comment on the national scene. If British Columbia is in the news, CBC will go to their predictable commentators in Vancouver, sometime including me I might add. But the national viewpoint is always from two or more Toronto observers, it being assumed that British Columbians are too slow-witted to have a broad perspective on the issues. One of the CBC’s favourite gurus on national affairs is Bill Fox who worked as press flack for Mulroney and whose book covering those years didn’t even mention – not once – the Charlottetown Referendum. There is this built-in bias that the regions comment upon the regions but Toronto comments on the country, English speaking version.

The Central Canadian bias clearly favours the Establishment and the establishment’s point of view. For example, you’ll never hear on the CBC any thoughtful criticism of how we govern ourselves. for criticism must come within carefully laid out boundaries. The corporation sees itself not ever as the cutting edge of political thinking but as the ever faithful safety-firsters.

Let me, if I may, go back to the Charlottetown Referendum, a national issue of huge importance in which I played a role. The Establishment, west of the Lakehead, and especially west of the Rockies, was hammered. Yet no one predicted it until the last week when some polls were taken. No one predicted it because the media, especially the CBC, asked no questions. They were in thrall to the Establishment and they were in denial. I did one interview on the National with Bill Cameron, early in the campaign, and was treated as some salt water soaked curiousity from the land of madness because I predicted that the Accord would get murdered in BC. The Toronto Globe and Mail interviewed me once as did the Toronto Star but then only in the late stages of the campaign and they too presented me as representing a troubling but still minority voice. But the CBC did nothing. Moreover, it came as a great surprise that Nova Scotia voted "No" – it came as a great surprise because our national radio and television station didn’t do its homework there. In the one time in living memory that the National Broadcaster might have reported that the establishment it so revered and was such a part of was in trouble, it just went along, and made out later that the result was a national surprise. Think on that a moment. It took the unanimous support of the provinces to pass this accord yet six voted against it and British Columbia did so by nearly 70% and to the CBC this came as a surprise!

It’s all so outdated now. When the CBC could have been the cement that united the nation it pitted English Canada against French Canada and the outer regions of Canada against Toronto. Now we are in the 1000 channel universe where Canadians are performing magnificently without any need for CBC force-feeding and the CBC lovers want us to pretend that the country will crumble if the CBC cuts back its 6:00PM local news that no one watches anyway.

Ah, but I’ve been told, we must have this newscasting because it’s so superior to that of private networks. Just how it’s so superior and what yardstick is used to measure this superiority is not clear – CBC types don’t need evidence, you see, just a frown with wise nod of the head and an assertion that it’s so, will do.

The ever diminishing CBC claque continues to bleat about the Mother Corporation’s inherent superiority while most British Columbians - if they think about it at all - continue to see it as a nest of elites, run out of Toronto for Toronto all the while sucking up millions of tax dollars in a futile attempt to convince us we should patronize them.