|
December 1, 2011
Kamloops city council sensibly voted
in favour of the new CBC radio station. What followed the vote was bewildering.
Approval of the proposed station is a no-brainer. Kamloops will become the
centre of a broadcast region that stretches all the way from the Suswap Lakes,
east to Lytton, and north to 100 Mile House. We will finally be recognized as a
cultural and business centre similar to the way that CBC helped root Kelowna as
the hub of the Okanagan.
The old arrangement made Kamloops a satellite of Kelowna. Reporting of news from
Kamloops was done out of Kelowna. Or, more often, Kamloops was not covered at
all because CBC Kelowna lacks the resources.
We may be well connected in terms of being the hub of major railways and
highways but we are not connected to any major media networks. Kamloops has a
thriving arts, education, and business community but we are virtually in a black
hole when it comes to national recognition. With CBC radio, at last news that
originates in Kamloops will immediately be available to the nation.
That wasn`t the case in 2003 when wildfires raced through Kamloops, chasing me
from my home in Westsyde. As far as the rest of Canada was concerned, the
wildfires were happing somewhere in the Okanagan because that’s where the news
was coming from.
Approval by city council of the new CBC station was predictable. What followed
wasn`t. After a stirring presentation to city council by former Socred MLA Bud
Smith, the discussion when awry. Smith made a passionate pitch for councilors to
call for the removal of what he called a “subsidy” for the CBC and have the
money directed to infrastructure.
|
The CBC receives an operating budget but it can hardly be called a subsidy.
If tax dollars directed towards the CBC are a subsidy, then so are tax
dollars directed towards highway maintenance, schools, and garbage
collection. But no reasonable person would claim that roads are subsidized
through tax dollars, even those who don’t own a car. Even those who don’t
have school age children would not claim that they subsidize schools through
tax dollars. And funding for garbage collection is a necessity, not a
subsidy. It’s all part of the cost of running a city, province, or country
through taxes.
The fuzzy logic seemed to be contagious. One councilor was so inspired by
Smith’s speech that she called CBC “an elite group that doesn’t raise money
to pay their salaries.” Unlike entrepreneurial city councilors, I assume,
who don`t receive a ``subsidy`` from taxpayers but regularly raise money to
pay their salaries.
Until reporters pointed it out latter, councilors didn't seem to notice that
Smith`s business would be the beneficiary of redirected infrastructure
funds.
The merit of the CBC is an interesting topic but, quite frankly, none of
city hall’s business any more than garbage collection is a federal matter.
I agree with Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister, R.B. Bennett, who started
the CBC in 1932. Bennett saw the CBC as a unifying force that helped forge
and connect our vast nation.
If anything, the CBC is underfunded. Canada spends relatively little on
public broadcasting compared to other industrial nations. Canada is
twentieth of twenty-six countries in the OECD when it comes to spending on
public broadcasting.
The CBC has its faults. Not only does Kamloops deserve a radio station, we
should also receive CBC TV at no extra cost, without paying for cable of
satellite, as most cities our size do.
But the CBC should be applauded for finally doing the right thing in
Kamloops.
David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at
dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca
|
