Another stacked process

If nothing else, the Cons clearly know how to bury the part of a story they don't want to put in the public eye. Take for example today's news surrounding the Canadian Television Fund, where plenty of attention is paid to the Cons' plan to continue funding from the government side for two years, but much less to Bev Oda's concurrent plan to give cable companies a chance to rewrite the rules for the Television Fund without including any other viewpoints in the discussion:

For its $250-million annual budget, the fund usually receives $100 million from the government, as well as contributions from Canadian cable and direct-to-home satellite providers, which are required by CRTC regulations to contribute a percentage of their revenues to support Canadian programming...

Oda also spoke about the current controversy surrounding the TV fund, reiterating her late Thursday announcement that she would be meeting with the CTF's principal contributors (BellExpress Vu, Shaw/Starchoice, Rogers, Vidéotron and Cogeco) in Ottawa early next week.

The meeting was prompted by the recent decision of cable giants Shaw and Vidéotron to suspend their CTF payments.

At a Parliament Hill news conference, Oda said she is interested in hearing any complaints, in particular about how the fund is governed.

"Obviously there's still some concerns and discomfort with the structure that was set up," she said. "I would like to hear what those discomforts are."...

"I'm confident that we can find a resolution," Oda said.

Now, it's odd enough that Oda's response to a threat to break the law is to try to change the law to appease the would-be violators, rather than at least starting from the position that the law should be followed (as recommended by the Television Fund's chair). Though of course that tends to fit all too nicely with the Cons' usual system of double standards - with the cable industry falling in the "Cons and friends" group which can do no wrong no matter what a pesky law may say.

But even that double standard aside, the composition of Oda's meeting should be setting off alarm bells. After all, Oda seems to plan to work out a "resolution" based on the "concerns and discomfort" of the cable companies without input from the figures on the receiving end of Television Fund money (i.e. the Canadian television production industry), or from other actors whose interests diverge in the least from the cable companies (notably broadcasters who aren't under a cable-company umbrella such as the CBC).

Needless to say, the end result of that process figures to be one which unduly favours the sole side represented. Which will all too likely mean a reduction in the cable companies' responsibility to maintain the Television Fund and resulting windfall to their shareholders, combined with either an immediate reduction in the Television Fund's role or a temporary increase in government support to kick the can down the road. And it wouldn't be the least bit surprising for any such increase to then be cut back by the Cons at the first available opportunity.

Of course, it could be worse if Oda had come out and stated an intention not to continue the Television Fund past this spring. But the continued government funding is only one of the necessary elements in ensuring that the Television Fund can continue to do its job - and judging from Oda's willingness to hear only from one side of the issue, it'll take some significant public pressure to keep the rest of the necessary conditions in place.

Update: Charlie Angus has more following Oda's announcement.