Catherine Tait, the president of the CBC since 2018, has
been in the news for a number of reasons – none of them good. In a dubious attempt to ‘modernize’ the
national broadcaster, she announced that full-on streaming is an achievable
objective within 10 or 15 years. In
other words: no more airwaves for radio or television. Admittedly, she did back-peddle somewhat
following the initial announcement, claiming they will not “abandon” rural
viewers.
The idea is seriously flawed, especially given the timing of
the announcement in the context of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and
Syria. What if? It is probable that the “big one” will strike
British Columbia within the next generation or two, or that further major
natural disasters will strike provinces in an era of climate change. If the public at that time is singularly
dependent on the internet, or wi-fi, for information during an emergency, then
the CBC will be ill-equipped and useless to the very public it is supposed to serve. It is crazy to make the CBC, and the safety
of our communities, contingent solely on the internet. And nothing replaces an
ordinary radio with batteries in a time of crisis.
The CBC is not mandated to make a profit. But its streaming plans will only add to the
profits of the “Big Three” telecommunications companies operating in Canada –
Rogers, Bell and Telus – because streaming and data are expensive in this country. In other words, ordinary Canadians will have
to pay more for a so-called “public” service while the telecommunications
oligopoly will continue to flourish because of a lack of competition. Increased competition is nigh impossible in
Canada because the “Big Three” are not ordered to share their cell-tower
networks with potential newcomer rivals (though there is now a weak back-door procedure for regional carriers), thus adding to costs for any jockeying
outsiders. Catherine Tait may be
following in the footsteps of the BBC, which has similar plans for the UK, but
I would hazard a guess that telecommunication costs are less high-priced there, as they are elsewhere, beyond the Canadian border.
Finally, there is the sticky mess of Catherine Tait’s public
criticisms of the Leader of the Opposition, populist Pierre Poilievre, who,
among a great many other things, wants to “defund” the CBC. I am no fan of Poilievre. But, as head of the
CBC, Tait should at least pretend to be neutral, and in this she has abysmally
failed, thus tainting the CBC.
I have listened regularly to CBC Radio for years. Today, it tends to offer a Romantic
perspective, with an association of ideas linking identity politics to the
problem of its suppression by supposed violence, in other words colonialism.
The theme, I admit, can get a bit repetitive and tiresome. Canadians are a peculiar lot: everyone
politely (and publicly) seems to accept “diversity, equity, inclusion” while at
the same time many of these same people also privately confess that maybe, just
maybe, it has become too much of a mantra.
The source driving the problem at the CBC is Catherine Tait, and I am of
the opinion that her contract should not be renewed beyond the end of term in July
2023.[1]
[1] See also Konrad Yakabuski, “Why is the head of the CBC picking a fight with Pierre Poilievre,” The Globe and Mail, 09 February 2023, online. While I disagree with Yakabuski’s assessment of the Ottawa convoy protest - not discussed here - the rest of his argument remains sound.
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