Take Action to Strengthen CBC's Grassroots

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Lock Out at the CBC

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I'm writing to ask you to take a moment out of your busy holiday schedule
to visit FRIENDS' website to take action on an important subject --
strengthening CBC's grassroots. You can ask your local candidates in this
federal election to pledge their support to re-build the CBC's grassroots
capacity right now by visiting:

http://www.friends.ca/strengthen-cbc-grassroots/

CBC's connection to Canadians and the communities in which they live has
been gravely damaged. Grassroots programs and CBC's presence across the
country have been slashed in the face of severe budget cuts. Today's
centrally-produced programs make CBC radio and television look more like a
Toronto Broadcasting Corporation than the national public broadcaster CBC
should be.

Although all of us pay for it, many Canadians cannot receive the full range
of CBC's services. In some parts of the country, including cities as large
as Hamilton, and huge areas in rural BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba,
Ontario and Quebec, there are no CBC stations whatsoever. Many other
Canadians are underserved by "affiliate" stations.

Even when Canadians can receive CBC's signals, most of the programs come
from far away. Not enough CBC programming takes place locally, designed and
delivered within the regions where most Canadians live. The Broadcasting
Act calls on CBC to "reflect Canada and its regions to national and
regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions", but
CBC is failing in this mandate.

Recently a Parliamentary committee called on CBC to present a plan to
strengthen its grassroots presence and programming. CBC responded with a
local-regional plan which has been gathering dust in the government's in-
basket for twelve months.

Please join hands with many thousands of other Canadian who care about
CBC's grassroots to send a message to the candidates in your riding, asking
them to pledge their support to re-build CBC's grassroots capacity and to
respond to you before election day.

You can send a message quickly and easily using FRIENDS' website action
centre. You will be asked to enter your postal code so we can identify
your riding. Then, simply edit our sample text (you can accept it if you
wish, but editing it in your own words is more effective), and your message
will be sent automatically.

Please visit the following link:

http://www.friends.ca/strengthen-cbc-grassroots/

to send a message right now.

Thanks for taking action!

Ian Morrison
Spokesperson
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting