Toronto Star blasts Canadian culture myths

An article in the Toronto Star,
part of the Atkinson series by fellow Kate Taylor, explores Canadian
culture and busts long-standing myths, including that of a
lavishly-funded CBC.

In a sidebar of nine Canadian culture myths, Taylor writes, as numbers 6 and 7:

“Fiction: The CBC is lavishly funded by the taxpayer. . .

“Fact: At $33 per citizen per year, the CBC is one of the worst funded public broadcasters in the industrialized world. Only the United States and New Zealand pay less per capita for public broadcasting. Routinely cut and seldom increased, the CBC’s parliamentary appropriation, in today’s dollars, is worth $500 million less than it was in 1991.”

“Fiction: . . . unlike the commercial broadcasters, who have to survive without any government money.

“Fact: There is no such thing as a free market in Canadian broadcasting. The commercial broadcasters are protected from competing American signals by regulation and also receive government subsidies for their Canadian programming in the form of tax credits and grants provided to TV producers.”