Sitting here in my little log cabin in the
Northern Ontario wilderness… listening to CBC Radio. Slowly
over the past week, it has occurred to me that I
haven't heard any Conservative "paid
political advertisements" on my local station.
Hmmm. I phoned the local office to find out
if my perception was correct. Yikes! It was true!
CBC Northern Ontario Radio received ads only
from the Liberals and NDP. Does this mean the Conservatives
don't care about Northern Ontario?
Or does it mean that the Conservatives don't
think anyone who listens to CBC is going to vote for them, so
why bother spending ad dollars there?
I phoned the Conservative national office to
ask, "Why no advertising on CBC Radio?"
Their reply was, "CBC has not been supportive
of Stephen Harper."
From my listening, CBC has not been
supportive of the Liberals or the NDP. Nor have they supported
the Bloc Quebecois, or the Greens, or any other party.
As I listen, CBC provides unbiased coverage
of the election - that is why they sell advertising. So we can
hear the biases of the parties.
I interpret this silence on the part of the
Conservatives to be an insult to the listeners of CBC
Radio.
I fear that if they take over Canada - CBC
will suffer - especially the local programming. I checked out
Conservative platform, and indeed, it is silent on support for
local programming. This spells trouble for small community
Canada.
Let's hope for a minority Parliament - to
keep our country, and our local CBC alive.
Viki Mather lives near a lake in Sudbury.
