CBC/Radio-Canada to cut 10 per cent of workforce, end some programming as it faces $125M budget shortfall
CBC/Radio-Canada to cut 10 per cent of workforce, end some programming as it faces $125M budget shortfall
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CBC/Radio-Canada — which received around $1.3 billion in public funding in the 2022-2023 fiscal year
Well, that's all I needed to hear. Shut the entire thing down and reduce our taxes, please. FFS.
Should we shut down public funding for schools while we're at it?
How dare the government spend money to keep the public educated and informed!
/s
P.S. You're an idiot.
You're right, why put an extra $1.3 billion per year into our school system when we can "educate and inform" Canadians through programming like Fridge Wars and Hockey Night In Canada?.
/s
If you'd like to continue funding a dying media group, be my guest. I'd rather not use tax dollars to support an unsustainable entertainment broadcaster.
Yeah because that's what all the money is going towards. Definitely not the incredible news coverage and investigative journalism. There's also this wild thing called "cultural programming" the CBC does, like highlighting and funding Canadian media and stories.
Fuck all the people like you complaining about them taking your tax dollars. If everyone paid equally for it, their current budget totals ~$3/month for every Canadian. If you wanna bitch about wasted tax dollars, how about we talk about the tens of billions in subsidies going to oil and gas?
Definitely not the incredible news coverage and investigative journalism.
I don't disagree, as I also enjoy their news and investigative journalism, but that's beside the point.
There's also this wild thing called "cultural programming" the CBC does, like highlighting and funding Canadian media and stories.
They are mandated to, but they also aren't the only ones doing it.
Fuck all the people like you complaining about them taking your tax dollars. If everyone paid equally for it, their current budget totals ~$3/month for every Canadian.
Forced $45 a year, plus they paywall their News Network.
I would rather my tax dollars go elsewhere, but that's just me. $45 per person is a lot. We could double Parks Canada's funding if we gave it to them instead.
If you wanna bitch about wasted tax dollars, how about we talk about the tens of billions in subsidies going to oil and gas?
Can't we do both? After all, we give the CBC almost as much as we give the Department of the Environment.
Jesus Christ you're really licking the boots of American news corps and billionaires eh? $45 is worth the quality reality based news we get.
Imagine if we doubled that to 90$/year. Hopefully they could free themselves up from having to serve ads to make ends meet, and make the news network free for all.
I’m personally happy with my taxes funding public services like CBC.
While you could argue that we get taxed a lot, and that our taxes are not always well spent, the average person receives a ton of value for the amount of money they put in.
the average person receives a ton of value
I don't doubt that they're offering value to some people with the sheer number of TV and radio programming they offer, but the argument is whether taxpayers should be supporting them.
They generate over a half billion a year from ads and non-government funding, and they charge people (like Netflix does) for their “premium” content.
If they can't sustain themselves through a normal business model, I don't see why we have to keep their business going. $1.3 billion a year is not chump change.
Just to put that into perspective, we give the CBC more than we give Canada Post, VIA Rail, Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Canadian Museum of Nature ,Canadian Transportation Agency, Department for Women and Gender Equality, Library and Archives of Canada, National Film Board, National Museum of Science and Technology, COMBINED.
Just to put that into perspective, we give the CBC more than we give Canada Post, VIA Rail, Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Canadian Museum of Nature ,Canadian Transportation Agency, Department for Women and Gender Equality, Library and Archives of Canada, National Film Board, National Museum of Science and Technology, COMBINED.
What kind of Gish Gallop-ass argument is this? Random museums, a rail operator, various crown corps?
I'm sorry if that overwhelmed you.
The previous poster said that CBC offers "a ton of value" to the average Canadian.
I was pointing out that while true, we give them more money than other programs and services (combined) that offer all Canadians more value.
If you believe that an entertainment broadcaster deserves more money than our national postal and rail services (among a ton of other resources), then that's your choice.
I don't think they do, and I think Canadians would benefit more from having $1.3 billion allocated to other things.
Heck, the CBC gets more than Parks Canada, National Research Council of Canada, and almost as much as the Department of the Environment!
entertainment broadcaster
I think it's a safe bet that most Canadians consider CBC primarily a news organization. Either way, comparing their budget to organizations that can bill customers directly, like Parks Canada or Canada Post, is incredibly dishonest.
I think it’s a safe bet that most Canadians consider CBC primarily a news organization.
Maybe. Maybe not. The fact is, the CBC doesn't do only news, so we are funding their large entertainment wing, too.
Either way, comparing their budget to organizations that can bill customers directly is incredibly dishonest.
Well, CBC also has alternate revenue streams, including direct billing for their paid services (like Netflix or Disney).
What's dishonest is the CBC claiming that their News Network is not publicly funded.
I agree, that is dishonest. All CBC services should be free for all Canadians, even if that requires a larger budget.
If you read the article you linked, you'll see at the bottom that News Network is not allowed to receive public funds due to rules by the CRTC.
You'll also see that even the CBC acknowledges that News Network benefits from the other CBC services that do receive funds, but that it doesn't mean that News Network is publicly funded.
It quite literally says, "As such, while CBC News Network does not receive public funds directly, it does, in fact, operate using publicly-funded resources.".
We can split hairs, but they were not being very transparent or honest.
Maybe. Maybe not. The fact is, the CBC doesn’t do only news, so we are funding their large entertainment wing, too.
That's true. Out of curiosity, do you know how each branch fares in terms of income generation? Because it may very well be that their entertainment wing is helping subsidize the news part. - not saying this is the case, I don't know, just considering the possibility that cutting the entertainment part might make it harder to do the news part
Also, some of the entertainment also serves a social good purpose... not saying all of it, but definitely some of it. It's hard to really call the whole thing wasteful just because it's categorized as entertainment. Providing access to culture is one of the things that a broadcast corporation should be doing.
If they can’t sustain themselves through a normal business model, I don’t see why we have to keep their business going.
The "why" is because it's probably a net positive for society. That's how it goes for public services, stuff that might not be viable via a normal business model but still should be done, so we all share the bill.
How about we cut all federal funding for fossil fuel and mining companies instead?
Oil Change International finds Canadian governments provided $14 billion per year to oil, gas, coal. Source
The Canadian government announced that the 2022 budget would feature up to $3.8 billion in funding to support mining efforts in Canada over the next eight years. Source
Why stop there? Cut subsidies to livestock and other environmentally destructive industries, too.
How much reduction do you expect to see in your taxes by shutting down CBC? Of course I'd like to see them cut costs but having a public broadcaster for Canadians is worth the couple of dollars you'll save
At 1.3B$/year that would be an average of $34.21/year per Canadian if we round it out to 38M, but more realistically if we go with how many tax returns there were in 2023 (around 31.8M), that would be an average of $40.88/year per taxpayer.
At the current rate of inflation, that's like one meal for a family of four at McDonalds.
Does the CBC need to absolutely return a profit? Should hospitals be held to the same target of becoming profitable no matter what? It's a public service, it's our culture, we have great reporters who are keeping the government accountable by constantly digging. I'm not saying it should be careless financially and it needs to balance its budget so that it doesn't waste the taxpayers money, but to me that is the price of a healthy democracy.
At the current rate of inflation, that’s like one meal for a family of four at McDonalds.
And that's if you divide it homogeneously across all tax brackets, which you shouldn't, but it's good napkin math.