On locking out the world

While Bev Oda made a few ridiculous comments about the CBC last week, those at least were fairly consistent with Con party policy. But Conservative Senator Marjory Lebreton has decided to go even further off the deep end:

In a letter to an Ottawa newspaper, she cited poll numbers that suggested NDP and Liberal supporters missed regular CBC coverage the most.

“The lockout has deprived them of their biggest cheerleaders on the national scene,” Ms. LeBreton wrote in a letter published in the Sept. 12 edition of the Hill Times newspaper.

“As far as I am concerned, I hope it takes months to settle the CBC lockout.

“The thought of going through a national election campaign inconveniencing those Liberal and NDP supporters who rely on the CBC is truly something to look forward to.”

Of course, anyone trying to find coverage from the CBC's employees can still track it down. But there are two bigger issues with LeBreton's rant.

First, from a labour relations standpoint, LeBreton makes clear that perceived political gain is more important to her than a fair resolution between employer and union. Which should give a huge reason to vote against the Cons for anybody with any interest in working for (or even watching or listening to) the CBC. After all, it's not a particularly large step from "it's good not to have the CBC reporting on an election" to "let's make sure the CBC is locked out every time an election comes around".

And given the context, all public-sector workers may also have reason to worry: if political gain is more important than having a competently-run organization which resolves its labour disputes in a constructive manner, then a lot of unions could potentially be on the wrong end of staged lockouts for any number of purposes (be they budgetary or ideological). Unless Harper clearly disavows LeBreton's statement, it's tough to conclude anything but that politics come above sound management in the Conservative view.

Just one more all-too-plausible fear that the Cons have walked right into.

Granted, nobody affiliated with the CBC should be too happy with the Liberals either, in light of the government which has caused the lockout by slashing budgets. As I've noted before, the NDP should thus take a strong stance as the only party trying to preserve public broadcasting.

The second bigger issue is from a public information standpoint, as LeBreton's position demonstrates one of the fundamental differences between the right and left wings. While most progressives abhor the lack of facts presented by Fox News, the usual reaction is to point out the errors rather than to claim that it shouldn't be broadcasting in the first place. Any move to change the station's ideology is through public pressure and market forces, not by trying to suppress the existence of the network.

For the right wing, however, dissenting views are to be suppressed at all costs. In addition to the "left-wing media" rhetoric which has never been backed up by facts, that's also meant wholesale attacks on public broadcasters in both Canada and the U.S., based apparently on the idea that it's best for the public to have less information, as long as the information eliminated is contrary to one's own beliefs.

That's both reason why the left will tend to win rational debates, and reason to be very careful to make sure the frame of reference includes all the facts. The CBC is one of our means of ensuring that there's a wide range of information available to all Canadians, and unwarranted attacks against it should be seen as attacks on the public's ability to get to the truth.