OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada is keeping a low profile as it digests the impact of a 10% cut to its budget announced as part of Thursday’s federal budget.
The government committed to slashing the public broadcaster’s annual parliamentary appropriation by $115 million over three years as part of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan.
“CBC/Radio-Canada will review its approach for dealing with this reduction in a way that doesn't overly compromise its strategy for the future, 2015: Everyone, Every way”, the Corp said in a brief statement. “The measures that CBC/Radio-Canada intends to take over the next three years will be set out in greater detail for our employees and the Canadians we serve as soon as possible.”
Independent watchdog Friends of Canadian Broadcasting was quick to criticize the reduction, calling the cuts “vindictive” and accusing the government of breaking an election promise to maintain or increase CBC’s funding.
"The Harper government has singled out the CBC for punitive cuts and has broken its election pledge to maintain or increase CBC funding in the process", said Friends’ spokesperson Ian Morrison, in a statement.
The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) expressed its concern over the cuts to Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board, but suggested that the reductions to the CBC’s parliamentary appropriation will “have the most far-reaching and damaging consequences”.
“This budget is more than belt tightening; it is squeezing the life from the public broadcaster”, said executive director Maureen Parker, in a statement. “The CBC makes a critical contribution to excellence, employment and economic generation in the Canadian television and digital media industries. The cuts in this budget will have a devastating effect on the entire production community in Canada, and ultimately on the quality of programming choice for Canadian audiences.”
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) took a more neutral stance, despite expressing disappointment with cuts to national cultural institutions like CBC, the NFB and Telefilm that play “a fundamental role in supporting the independent production sector”.
“The Government made no secret it planned to trim budgets across all federal departments, agencies, and Crown corporations,” said president and CEO Norm Bolen, in a statement. “We are obviously concerned that there could be less money to put Canadian programming on screens. However, we also recognize that things could have been much worse.”
The Canadian Association of Journalists said that the federal government's decision to cut the CBC's budget when its board and president had requested stable and secure funding is “short-sighted” and could cause “irrevocable damage to the corporation's ability to meet its legislated mandate”.
"When jobs are cut within a media company, Canadians often lose," said president Hugo Rodrigues. "These positions help inform and educate Canadians about the news and information we need to have for a healthy, functioning democratic society."
– Lesley Hunter
