This will not end well

So in response to a series of Con attacks so ridiculous that even Jane Taber couldn't take them seriously, the CBC has decided to waste time and resources pretending there's some merit to them. But what exactly can the CBC expect to happen now?

There's no reason to think commissioning a study will buy any peace with the Cons. In fact, they've come out immediately with a declaration that they don't think the study is worth bothering with:

Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said if CBC needs a study to determine the appropriateness of using a Liberal Party donor as a pollster, it demonstrates how “deeply out-of-touch the network has become.”

So what can happen once the study is done? If it doesn't conclude the CBC is biased, the Cons will say it was rigged. If it does find even the slightest hint of slant in any direction, the Cons will use that to attack the CBC further, and perhaps demand that CBC's political programming be turned over entirely to Kory Teneycke, Tim Powers and Allan Gregg. And either way, the fact that the CBC is putting resources into commissioning the study is going to make the network into a juicy target for future cuts, since it implies that the CBC has money sitting around that it doesn't need for programming.

Unfortunately, after getting the answer right to begin with by pointing out the Cons' baseless attacks for what they were, the CBC is now reinforcing and enabling those attacks. And it's difficult to see what good can come of that choice.

Update: As Rick Salutin notes, there's plenty of reason for concern that the CBC actually lists to the right due in large part to the Cons' past pressure. But I'm not optimistic that either they or the Cons will accept that conclusion even if it's true. (h/t to Dr. Dawg.)