I don't expect there to be many fans of Canadian politics in the house, but I figure that since there has been a little interest in our labour laws as of late, maybe this story will be of some interest.
For the last three weeks or so there has been a labour lockout at the state-owned CBC.
As nefarious as state-owned broadcasting sounds, it's actually been quite a boon for our country. Most obviously was during the beginning months of the Iraq war, when, thanks to the CBC, Canadians were getting entirely different coverage than Americans. Imagine going from the nightly news, to a state sponsored (but not vetted) documentary on the lies of the first Gulf War (scud missiles, etc.) without any break. At the same time the station was doing similarily critical work regarding the Prime Minister's own business interests.
So, obviously, the CBC is owned by the government, but is truly independant of both government and the corporate media (or so it seems).
As I said, there has been a pretty tragic labour dispute at the station, that has had all of the employees, on air or otherwise, walking the picket lines. A number of sad things have seemed to come out of this. One, was that initially (I haven't heard much since), the publics opinions just didn't shift. People really didn't care very much about Canadian made and owned media (t.v. especially, is just brutally bad). As it has progressed, the workers have moved their picket from CBC headquarters to the steps of Parliament.
The Prime minister has already said he won't cross the picket line, but the action poses a greater problem for our new Governor General (ummm.... sort of a figurehead, technically head of state, representative to the Queen that we actually still, technically, have). The new Governor General was a CBC employee up until a few months ago, and has to go to Parliament to be sworn in. None of this is particularily relevant or new.
The interesting thing is that CBC was set to air Bowling for Columbine, at some point soon. Michael Moore, who remains one of my favorite people, has always taken an interest in Canadian poloitics. He's asked, on his website, that the movie not be shown unless the lockout is resolved.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4134
I'm not entirely sure how I fell about that (although I'm pretty sure his opinion can't really change anything when there's a contract in place). But it's always nice to have that kind of interest, especially in a country where people with strong enough opinions, and the respect to match them, can actually change elections (you should've seen Bono before our last one).
Of course, this dispute will be handled in the same way that all of the labour disputes are handle. Eventually, the workers will run out of money, and the station will face mounting public criticism, some deal will be struck which will be eerily similar to what was originally asked for.
But considering the CBC execs have done their best to batter the strikers down by running american and british made programming, any outside pressure on the station to bring the Canadian workers and entertainers back is welcome. Oh well, hockey season is coming, if it lasts that long, people will demand their heads.
Most of this Diary was pretty useless, I admit. More interesting, perhaps, is the idea of a Government owned media system. In the States this would seem pretty dangerous (considering what's happening at PBS). In Canada we have political problems that are just as devisive, just as far-ranging and dangerous (okay, maybe not dangerous), with as many negative connotations to our own democracy. Perhaps, if there's any interest in hearing the unique problems of a left-wing (kinda) state, I'll go further into detail. Otherwise, please, please, oh please just ignore everything you've read! I really can't give you that ten minutes back...
