Voters may punish Liberals for CBC cuts by Don Richardson
Source : Fredericton Daily Gleaner
Nov 18, 2000
by Don Richardson
A growing number of Atlantic Canadians are prepared to take out their anger over CBC programming cuts at the ballot box, a new poll suggests.
A survey conducted for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting suggests that 38 per cent of Atlantic Canadian voters surveyed are less likely to vote Liberal as a result of recent cuts to CBC-TV's supper-hour news shows. But a spokesman for the public broadcasting lobby group admits that may not be good news for the CBC.
Patrick Flanagan admitted a voter backlash against the Liberals might throw votes to the Canadian Alliance Party, which wants to take the federal government out of the broadcasting business.
"Obviously, that would not be in our interest," Flanagan told reporters at a news conference Friday.
"But what is in our interest is to get candidates for all parties put on the record about their views on public broadcasting and the need to restore CBC's local programming to previous levels."
The group will launch an advertising blitz next week, urging voters to press candidates to put restoration of CBC funding as a top-priority item for the next federal parliament.
Earlier this year, the Friends group spearheaded a drive to block planned cuts to CBC programming.
The poll, conducted by Toronto-based Compas Inc. for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and the University of Kings College in Halifax, found that anger over the cuts has not subsided, and could be a pivotal issue for voters in the Nov. 27 federal election. More than two-thirds of those surveyed now consider local newscasts inadequate and apportion equal share of the blame to Liberal MPs and CBC executives.
The survey found almost half of those surveyed rate the CBC cuts as an important issue for the region's MPs to raise during the coming parliamentary session. But Flanagan said many Liberal MPs deserve credit for their efforts to stop the wholesale shutdown of local news shows. The poll of 400 Atlantic Canadians – 100 in each province – was conducted during the week of Nov. 13-20, and has an accuracy rating of plus or minus five per cent, 19 times out of 20.
