CBC asking for more money

New CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix says the CBC needs $215-million more federal money as well as a seven-year funding plan, reported Sun Media. Speaking to a conference of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Lacroix asked Ottawa to designate an extra $40 per Canadian in annual funding, compared to the current $33 per Canadian. The story quoted Lacroix: “With 12-month cycles, it’s very hard for us to plan our resources and needs intelligently.”

Apart from the constant, polarized and stupid debate about public money for public broadcasting (yawn), allowing the CBC to plan based on a fixed budget — any fixed budget — should be a no-brainer. It’s downright dishonest to degrade the CBC through uncertainty; those in government who don’t want to support it should say so, and let voters decide.