Tommy Douglas programming decision

CBC Acting Executive Director of Network Programming responds to complaint from FRIENDS supporter regarding decision to postpone documentary on Tommy Douglas.

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Thank you for your e-mail to CBC Television.

You wrote to take us to task for our recent decision to postpone a drama about Tommy Douglas, but broadcast a documentary on Medicare (seen on the December 8 edition of THE PASSIONATE EYE and again on December 12), an inconsistency that you believe demonstrates the CBC’s political bias.

Let me begin by saying that I sincerely regret that you are disappointed in CBC. I can assure you that we take very seriously any assertion that CBC is biased or unfair. In this case, and I say this with respect, I do not believe we have been biased, nor do I believe there is anything in these program decisions that is inconsistent. Allow me to explain.

Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Storyis a powerful two part dramatic mini-series that looks at the life and times of the man many Canadians regard as the country’s most outstanding politician. Indeed, as you may recall, after a six weeks-long search, last year, over a million Canadians voted him the Greatest Canadian ever. The mini series was scheduled to be broadcast on January 15 and 16, just a week before what was subsequently named as the date of the federal election.

He was eloquent, pugnacious and a life long proponent of once radical social causes from old age pensions, to mothers’ allowances and social welfare. But it is as the “father of Medicare” that he is best remembered. Of course, it would be impossible to recount his life without emphasizing his profound commitment to socialism and his belief in the government’s social responsibilities to all Canadians, beliefs which he advocated through the New Democratic Party, first as founder, then as leader and later as an eloquent and outspoken party advocate. 

It is CBC ’s obligation to be fair and balanced in all its presentations, something about which we are acutely sensitive during an election campaign. It is our belief that to broadcast a major biographical program series about a man closely identified with one political party and one set of views seven days before the federal election would risk giving the appearance of bias. Rather than take that risk, we decided to postpone the series – and I want to emphasize that it was only postponed – for a few weeks until the election was over. (It is now scheduled to be broadcast on March 12 and 13). That decision was simply a matter of prudence.

In a very similar vein, I should also point out that Radio-Canada has postponed until after the election a major program series on Rene Levesque, the former Parti Quebecois leader and charismatic politician who came within a few votes of leading a separate Quebec. We felt that this program, along with a retrospective view of Brian Mulroney’s years as Prime Minister, would be equally inappropriate for broadcast in the days immediately before the election. Regardless of their merit – and all three programs are truly outstanding productions – in the immediate context of the election they could be seen as being partisan. 

Medicare Schmedicare, THE PASSIONATE EYE documentary, is quite a different matter. To begin with it is not about a man closely identified with one political party. (I might also point out that it was broadcast in early December, before the holidays and weeks before the election, rather than days before as the Tommy Douglas drama would have been). 

But more significantly, Medicare Schmedicare is a current affairs program that offers credible information about “two-tiered” Medicare, one of the central and most controversial issues in recent elections. It is exactly the kind of insightful examination of election issues that Canadians expect of their public broadcaster. While all politicians have declared their fealty to a one-tier system, the documentary exposes a parallel “for fee” medical system already operating in Canada. It talks to those patients who have benefited from it and the doctors and others who have set it up and are quick to defend it. 

But let me be clear, while it exposes the existence of a “two-tier” system, Medicare Schmedicare most certainly does not advocate such a system. It gives voice to its proponents, fair enough – it is CBC’s responsibility to offer different points of view on controversial matters like this one. But the views of those who advocate “two-tier” medicine are not the only views heard. Medicare Schmedicare not only exposes the parallel system and those who support it to public scrutiny, throughout, the documentary returns to a staunch critic of the “for fee” system, who repeatedly points out how “for-fee” medicine undercuts the universal system Canadians value so highly. 

It is important to understand, here, that CBC has an obligation through legislation and policy to carry information on topical events and the different principal points of view on controversial matters, like this one, in a balanced, fair and accurate fashion. It is CBC’s obligation to present differing views fairly and accurately affording Canadians the opportunity and the information they need to make up their own minds about the nature or quality of the views expressed. That is an obligation that carries additional weight during an election campaign.

Thank you again for writing, I hope my reply has fully addressed your concerns and restored your confidence in CBC.

Yours sincerely,

Eva Czigler 
Executive Director 
Network Programming (Acting)
CBC Television
Box 500, Station “A”,
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1E6

December 13, 2005 - Globe & Mail: Memo to Fort Dork: Viewers aren't stupid by John Doyle
CBC viewers outraged with management decision to run documentary criticizing medicare system while postponing documentary about medicare founder Tommy Douglas, the latter officially to avoid appearance of partisanship.