Don't Defund the CBC

 

Many on the right have called for the defunding of the CBC. It is, after all, a propaganda arm of the government; is that proper in a democracy? Is it fair to ask everyone to pay for something many will not watch? And it competes unfairly with private channels and YouTubers.

I don’t think it is wrong to have a propaganda arm of the government. There is a place for public education. It is more that as the CBC exists now, its purpose is unclear and its mission muddled.

Rather than defund, I’d make it more purely and unambiguously propaganda.

It is a legitimate job of government to promote a sense of Canadian unity and Canadian identity. And Canada needs this urgently. Canadian identity and unity are tenuous at best, being a bilingual country, close to another much larger and culturally similar country, geographically very widely scattered, and, due to catastrophic recent government policies, full of recent immigrants who have been encouraged not to assimilate. 

We have a problem here, and a properly directed CBC can be a part of the solution.

There should be no programs on CBC produced in other countries. Leave that to the free market. Nor should the focus be entertainment. Leave that to the free market. As a propaganda arm, it should be one long advertisement for Canada, and an education for immigrants on Canadian culture. 

Shows on classic, traditional, and new Canadian books, movies, music, art. Shows on traditional Canadian foods and how to prepare them. Shows on Canadian history, always in a positive light. Shows on Canadian civics: how parliament works, how elections work, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Canadian law and legal traditions; how the court system works. Stories of Canadian inventors and inventions; of important Canadian industries. How is Canadian whisky made? How is Oka cheese made? How are trees turned into paper? Shows on Canadian folk traditions, traditional celebrations, traditional sports and games. Canadian accents, Canadian vocabulary and idioms. Travelogues on different parts of Canada. 

Celebrate this country. Inspire immigrants to love it and to integrate.

Nor would this be all that costly, in this era when an individual can run their own broadcast channel on the Internet. And putting this up on the Internet makes it accessible not just in every corner of Canada, but globally.

It is, after all, to Canada’s advantage to promote the Canadian brand abroad. This is good for our economy, and generates soft power.

I think it would be a good investment.