Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak to the plight of our dear old Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The Mother Corp, I think the employees call it. Some months ago the federal government announced major funding cutbacks to the CBC; cuts which will hit the CBC hard and will impact news, drama, radio, and TV programs all across Canada.
The CBC is part of the cultural fabric of our country and it’s a service which is particularly important to Canada’s three northern territories. The CBC links us as individuals and communities to each other and to the world. The radio is often the one and only information link in our small and remote communities. For those of our residents who spend time on the land, the radio, our CBC, is their connection to news and information about their community, their Territory, and the rest of the world.
Northerners have relied on the CBC for generations and this valuable service to Northerners is in jeopardy due to the funding cuts. The northern division of CBC, the CBC North, has indicated that there will be layoffs here and that, with a smaller staff and a smaller budget, something will have to give, to quote them. Experience shows that it is northern programming that will give, and by that I mean that programs will be eliminated.
Earlier this year the Government of the Yukon passed a motion in their Assembly urging the federal government to provide sufficient resources to the CBC; resources that would keep northern
radio and television services intact; resources that would maintain the excellent high standard of service that we now have and need to keep. We can do no less, Mr. Speaker.
The CBC in the NWT, as CBC North, is an essential communication link and it cannot and should not be diminished or reduced in any way. This government, this Assembly, must urge the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to reconsider its reduction of funding for the CBC and, as a result, the reduction of our northern programming.
I ask that the Premier write to the head of the CBC, Mr. Hubert Lacroix, advising him of our concerns and demanding a reinstatement of CBC North funding to its previous levels.
I look forward to seeing a copy of the Premier’s letter very soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.