With the CBC facing a $65 million revenue shortfall, the federal government shows no signs of offering a lifeline – and that has me both worried about the fate of the CBC and disappointed in the Canadian government.

According to CBC president Hubert Lacroix, the corporation is facing the shortfall due to decreased advertising revenues and increased programming and administrative costs – not to mention the prospect of reduced revenues from licensing and rebroadcasting rights.

The CBC has requested a loan, or an advance on their funding, to cover the shortfall but Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has argued that the CBC already receives $1 billion in funding, along with $60 million in non-recurring funding.
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I’ve always been sceptical of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the government agency in charge of regulating broadcasting and telecommunications.

After all, it seems to be staffed by a group of public servants who are guided by the “let the market decide” mantra, as opposed to their legislated responsibility to create and sustain a viable broadcast and telecom sector that actually works for Canadians and delivers innovative, high- quality content and services.

Despite my misgivings, I have to admit that it seems as though the CRTC is actually on the right track … for now at least! Of course, this is only a recent development, so maybe I should hold back on my excitement.
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Recently, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it is considering a change to the scope of the upcoming television broadcast license hearings scheduled for April 2009.

Under the current Broadcasting Act, 1991, the CRTC can grant broadcast licenses for up to 7 years. There is also an option to grant licenses for shorter periods of time, but this is usually done in cases where there are compliancy issues.

However, there is now concern that the CRTC might reverse course and grant only temporary, one to two-year licenses – and no, this has nothing to do with compliance issues.
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After the near-death experience for the Harper Conservatives in November, I expected Prime Minister Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to table a budget that would be responsive to growing concerns about the state of the Canadian economy.

And I admit, many of the budget leaks leading up to the official announcement made it seem like Harper was finally in touch with this reality – the proposed increased spending on infrastructure and programmes would provide jobs while tax cuts would spur consumer spending.

When the budget was finally tabled, it did address a number of these issues. And while I applaud the government for making much-needed (and highly uncharacteristic) investments in social spending, they really missed the ball on one key issue …

Employment Insurance (EI).
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