Once again the CBC is under attack. This time it is worse than ever – and all
Canadians should be concerned, regardless of (democratic) stripe. Yet another omnibus bill has been introduced
to the House of Commons, and in Budget Bill C-60 a sneaky provision has been
added to give the Conservative government essential control of collective
bargaining at the CBC. In other words,
Harper is converting our national “public” broadcaster into a “state” facility,
adding to his ability to influence the news and its journalists. Our political ‘leader’
wants to be virtual ‘master’ of the CBC airwaves, bringing with him a
heightened level of personal rule which is not often found in a modern Western
democracy. The potential unity of thought will be profoundly debilitating to
the nation.
In a nutshell, Canada is undergoing a revolution, one that
is taking us back to the USSR. The
Puritan forefathers of Canada’s Conservative Party bear an uncanny historical resemblance
to the Bolsheviks – both were radical ideologues and rather oppressive. If the Canadian state takes control of the
CBC it will fulfill Harper’s dream of ‘holy discipline’ familiar to Calvin’s
Church. Also of some inspiration to
Harper are the Romans, and if only they had today’s broadcasting technology,
for they too held to a ‘religion of order’.
Canadians cannot afford to be indifferent to the fate of the CBC, as
Harper already controls the realm.
798 years ago, in the year 1215,
King John signed the Magna Carta, and
he was forced to do so, because English Barons challenged his centralization of
power. Essentially the document implied
that the King was not above the law. Unfortunately, Harper does not see himself
as a servant of the law (as represented by Parliament). And he has no sense of
the people’s inherent rights, which is why he is tyrannical with the CBC.
Borrowing from the English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Harper can easily
be described as having “perpetual and restless desire for power after power.” And if we consider Plato, who says that “The
measure of a man is what he does with power,” one finds ludicrous ‘leadership’
misguided by a puritanical sense of being ‘the elect’. Certainly, we can all agree that the Prime
Minister requires several degrees of restraint on the CBC, public or otherwise
- and immediately so.
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