What's Wrong With The CBC

Stephen Harper's attacks on the CBC are nothing but partisan hogwash, but I can't fault him for being fed up with the path the CBC is embarking on.

Economists always say that government has a role only when the public sector fails. That's what the CBC fails to understand.

CBC television offers programming that is not very different from what can be found on competing stations, most notably CTV. The only difference is that CBC is publicly funded, whereas CTV is for-profit.

The same is now true of Radio 2. While Radio 2 used to provide mainly classical music programming, that couldn't be found anywhere else and featured truly intelligent, learned commentary, it has now turned itself into a regular popular radio station, which only distinguises itself from rival stations by the fact that it has no ads.

There's no point in funding the CBC to replace profitable private stations. Public broadcasting is pointless unless it can offer something different. On Radio 2, that means classical music. On television, that means more documentaries, televised academic forums and investigative programs.