"We love our blindness and we love our pain."

[dewline]

The quote's from Bruce Cockburn's song "Boundless". It does seem to fit at least one faction of the current roster of the House of Commons right now, judging by one or two of the consequences of the latest federal budget. You may recall previous mention of the CBC situation here on this blog, and with that in mind, here's another bit of the consequences I've been afraid of:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/04/04/cbc-budget-cuts.html

And if you've heard of and seen some of the National Film Board's material over the decades, the news isn't much better:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/04/04/nfb-job-losses.html

I'm not in love with either blindness or pain, so here's some linkage to advice on productive push-back. Use it or don't as you will.

http://openmedia.ca/reimagineblog/keep-canada-connected-how-take-action-your-community

Alternative suggestions are welcome, but be clear: as I've already implied to one friendly acquaintance on Facebook, privatizing the CBC and/or NFB is not an option for me.

Comments

[orleans.livejournal.com]

A lot of our economic/budget problems are the result of a shrinking middle class. We rely on the middle class for a widely-distributed tax base that can finance these programs. The upper classes can shelter a lot more of their income (or pay at a lower rate), and the poorer segments of society have nothing with which to pay taxes.

Therefore, I think if we want to preserve government services and enjoy great things like the CBC, we have to work at keeping the middle class vibrant and healthy. This requires choices at the government level, and I think the Liberals or NDP are more likely to make good choices than the Conservative party (which is too influenced by American neo-con think tanks).

On a more immediate, pragmatic level, I think the government needs to revisit bilingual services and the level of administration, and redirect more efforts to front line services. I realize that will be somewhat controversial, but in the near-term, we need to realize we cannot do everything.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

As to paragraph two, I think we are largely in agreement.

My fear tied to your final paragraph is this: that the Conservatives hope to make our knowledge of that last point work against our better interests.

[orleans.livejournal.com]

That's indeed a valid concern. I think it could be done well or done poorly. But you're correct in that "we need to realize we cannot do everything" can easily be used as a Conservative talking point to further gut programs and weaken the middle-class. I think the Harper government is doing exactly the wrong thing in keeping all the managers and getting rid of the scientists and technical staff!