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Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdcsu!brewster
From: brewster@watdcsu.UUCP
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Free trade, Canadian culture, $$
Message-ID: <3044@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 21-Feb-87 13:58:58 EST
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.3044
Posted: Sat Feb 21 13:58:58 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Feb-87 19:47:02 EST
References: <183@fornax.uucp> <840@mprvaxa.UUCP> <188@fornax.uucp>
Distribution: can
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 36

>From: chapman@fornax.uucp (John Chapman)

>Canada has 10% of the US population; does the CBC
>cost more to run than 10% of what it costs to run one of {NBC,ABC,CBS}?

    Lets compare apples and oranges.  Is the cost to the Canadian
    government for subsidizing CBC more than 10% of the cost to the
    American government for subsidizing NBC,ABC, and CBS combined ?

    The point the American negogiators were trying to make is that the
    above imbalance of government subsidzation should be addressed in
    any free trade deal.  The point that Canadian negogiators were 
    trying to make is that there are some areas of government
    subsidization  that are not open to negogiation.

    An interesting side note is the current approach being taken by the
    federal tories to kill the cbc.  Any large cutbacks in federal
    funding are politically unwise (refer to attempt to
    change qualification for old age pension).  The tories are
    therefore sucking money out of cbc slowly, until someday the
    programming wil be so hideous and second-rate that the final
    demise of the cbc will be accepted by the public with far less
    public outcry than a sudden halt tomorrow would produce. 

    If the cbc is such a great deal, why hasn't it been able to 
    operate insuch a way as to become financially independent? 
    Why hasn't it been able to operate in such a way as to at least
    break even including the government subsidizes ?  The obvious
    conclusion is that its mandate is not supported by a majority
    of Canadians, and if its mandate is not supported by a majority
    of Canadians then it should be allowed to die.  
                                                   
						   Try not  to become  a  man
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