The CBC is a broadcaster with resources the likes of which most can only dream. It has bureaus in every province and territory. It has correspondents in virtually every Canadian ethnic and linguistic community. It has $1 billion in stable government funding and an extra $150 million per year to come.
In the right hands, this kind of wealth could be wielded in awesome, history-changing ways.
The whole point of giving taxpayer money to a broadcaster is so they're able to perform a service that wouldn't exist without government support.
This was the reason the proto-CBC Canadian Royal Broadcasting Commission was founded in the first place.
Private capital wasn't up to the task of sending radio into all corners of the world's second-largest landmass, so a government agency was struck to do it instead.
CBC is supposed to fill the gaps that regular broadcasters can't: getting news coverage to remote areas, backing years-long investigative projects, taking risks that just aren't possible for a programming director who has to answer to investors at the end of a quarter.
Instead, CBC acts as if it's just another fish in the Canadian media pool - albeit one that doesn't need to worry about ratings, debt or subscriber numbers.
This isn't just uncreative, it's predatory - and has the predictable effect of kneecapping CBC's non-subsidized competitors.
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