Majority feel CBC vital to cultural identity: poll by Graham Fraser

by Graham Fraser

OTTAWA – Canadians are confident that the country's culture and identity are stronger now than they were five years ago in terms of distinctness from the United States, but worry about the ability to control domestic affairs from U.S. pressure in the future, a survey has found.

A strong majority believe in Canadian content requirements and do not consider them vigorous enough and say the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. is important for maintaining and building culture and identity.

This support for Canadian culture and the CBC emerged in a poll by Ipsos Reid for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting that was conducted between Aug. 6 and 11.

The poll questioned 1,100 Canadians, and it can be considered accurate within plus or minus 3 per cent, 19 times out of 20, Chris Martyn of Ipsos Reid said.

When questioned about agreement with the statement "I am proud of Canadian culture and identity," 94 per cent said they agreed, while 92 per cent said Canadian culture and identity should be promoted more and 89 per cent agreed it was important that the Canadian government work to maintain and build a culture and identity distinct from the U.S.

A higher proportion of Bloc Québécois supporters back the promotion of Canadian culture (92 per cent) and government support for a distinct Canadian culture (91 per cent) than do Canadian Alliance supporters (89 per cent support promoting Canadian culture, but only 76 per cent agree the Canadian government should be involved).

Of those questioned, 39 per cent think Canadians have a strong sense of culture and identity compared to 29 per cent in 1993, and 43 per cent think they are stronger than they were five years ago. But only 22 per cent feel that Canada will be better off in terms of the country's ability to control its domestic affairs against U.S. pressures five years from now, while 37 per cent think it will remain the same and 39 per cent believe Canada will be worse off.

In contrast, 45 per cent think there will be a better level of tolerance, 42 per cent say Canada's economic prospects will improve, and 39 per cent believe Canada's culture and identity will be stronger.

Of those questioned, 79 per cent agreed it is important for Canadian radio and television to have Canadian content, and 57 per cent said the current requirement of one hour of Canadian programming on Canadian TV during prime time was too little.

The CBC was deemed to be important in maintaining and building Canadian identity and culture by 81 per cent of those polled, and 76 per cent gave the CBC a high rating of trust on this issue (compared to 68 per cent for CTV and 58 per cent for Global).

A strong majority (88 per cent) said they would like to see the CBC strengthened in their part of Canada, and 83 per cent agreed (51 per cent strongly and 32 per cent somewhat) that "a new CBC capable of providing high-quality Canadian programming with strong regional content throughout Canada" should be built.

However, only 41 per cent favour increasing funding for the CBC, while 49 per cent favour maintaining it at the current level and 9 per cent want to decrease funding for the CBC.

The poll underlined themes that Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has been emphasizing for the past few years: the impact of budget cuts to the CBC, particularly in its services to Canada's regions.

"Years of budget cuts to regional radio and television services have taken their toll," said Ian Morrison of the public broadcasting lobby group.

"We believe the public broadcaster can play an even greater role for Canada in the future if given the resources," he continued.

© The Toronto Star