Time for Cuts! - Department of Canadian Heritage

To restore fiscal sanity to the Government of Canada big cuts are required. Whole Agencies need to have their government funding removed, and if they have the potential to be a going concern, they should be privatized. Up first on my list of cuts are many agencies tied to the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Background for the Department of Canadian Heritage

Mission: "Canadian Heritage is responsible for national policies and programs that promote Canadian content, foster cultural participation, active citizenship and participation in Canada's civic life, and strengthen connections among Canadians."

Source: http://www.pch.gc.ca/index_e.cfm

Minister: James Moore

Annual Budget: (Sorry can't find it)

Likely Opposition to Cuts: STRONG/VERY STRONG

Agencies to Have Funding Removed:

• Canada Council for the Arts
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada
• Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal (are you kidding me??)
• National Film Board of Canada
• Telefilm Canada

The mission of this department is flat out ridiculous, for the following reasons:

1. "Promote Canadian content": Making us listen to Nickelback every hour on the radio doesn't make us better Canadians. It makes me want to buy satellite radio or listen to internet radio (until that gets regulated).
2. "Foster cultural participation": Funding every possible ethnic festival/parade/party across Canada, will only further divide us along racial/religious lines.
3. "Strengthen connections among Canadians": Not sure how bureaucrats sitting in Ottawa will get me to talk to other Canadians.

Not only does this department have an impossible mission, but it redistributes taxpayers money to a lunatic fringe of artists and organizations that does not represent most Canadians. What are the CBC's ratings in Canada? How often do we watch Canadian films? Has all the money funneled to these organizations improved the quality or relevance of Canadian 'artists'?

When the conservatives introduces cuts to some of these programs the vested interests who rely on government subsidies to survive were protesting loudly, and it possibly cost the Harper government a majority. This is what happens when an agency like the ones listed above are created. Even minor cuts lead to special interests groups to blow it out of proportion. Opposition parties will ally with these groups to make a mountain out of a mole hill. This incrementalist approach to cuts by the Conservatives is quite possibly nearly as painful politically as ending these programs. When these programs are totally cut, the dependents will, after a few months of venting their spleens, have to move on and get real jobs, jobs where they actually contribute value to the economy, not suck resources from it.

Of course, if these programs are fully cut, and the opposition Liberals convince the electorate that these programs are somehow useful, then get elected, they might increase funding to these groups or create even stupider agencies/programs. Then taxpayers will be worse off in the long run. I don't envy Minister James Moore who has to continue funding these ridiculous agencies.

The CBC is the only organization in this group that could continue as a going concern after its funding is cut. It would require massive cuts to different language programming, regional offices would have to be closed, and probably all their radio stations would have to be shut down (does anyone listen to them?). After difficult cuts the organization could actually function maybe as profitably/unprofitably as Global or CTV. Although it would have to compete for the leftist viewing base with Aljazeera Canada. A good way to transfer ownership of this company from the Canadian Government to individual Canadians would be to give each Canadian holding a Social Insurance Number (SIN) one share in the CBC, with the help of TMX Group (Toronto Stock Exchange) we could register online for ownership of our share and begin to trade on the TMX. If this method were indeed a successful way to privatize companies, we could use the same method for privatizing other government agencies as well.