(warning: The following is all rambling, and no numbers)
It seems more and more that the CBC, maybe through all the pressure coming from the conservatives, has decided to move further and further right. Their coverage of the student protests was absent for weeks, and only when some protests turned violent (Plan Nord/Palais Congress) did they start to report on it – but only in the most sensationalist way, almost completely devoid of information and facts, and only intent on showing the students as destructors of society. Of course they never mention the violence coming from police. Or any numbers that would illuminate the issue – except one, that Quebec’s tuition is less Ontario’s. Student debts, the central issue, don’t matter to them.
The English CBC doesn’t understand the issues, doesn’t care to understand, and frankly, doesn’t care about Quebec. They mostly ignore Quebec, unless they bash us as unruly, unproductive and corrupt lefties; and overall seem quite content progressing Canada’s divide – but of course if Mulcair says fast development of oil sands is bad, then that’s unacceptably divisive somehow. They actually bash Charest for ‘giving in’ to the students, when in fact he’s gone for months… years arrogantly ignoring students concerns, treating them like spoiled brats, and not having moved an inch on the actual tuition increases (they’ll still go up to the ’68 levels adjusted for inflation).
And for bill 78, when all of Quebec is worriedly watching what’s happening, the English CBC kind of just ignores it. They are out building uninformed neo-liberal majorities. It’s all rather depressing.
Here’s some numbers for you:
Quebec is 1 out of 10 provinces in Canada (+ 3 territories).
Quebec’s population is 8M out of 35M in Canada.
CBC is a national broadcaster. Not a Quebec broadcaster.
(disclosure: I live in Quebec)