Another Lukewski Form Letter

I along with several thousand other Canadians recently wrote my MP about our concerns about funding, or the lack thereof, to the CBC. Anyone who is a regular listener knows that CBC Radio is a little more that a shadow of it's former self. My action was part of a campaign initiated by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. 

A day or so ago I got a reply Not unexpectedly, it was another shit sandwich from Tom Lukiwski, my member of parliament. You remember Tom. He is one of the 13, do nothing, Saskatchewan Conservative MPs. That sandwich is something that those of us who write to our Conservative MPs and cabinet members get quite often. They start with "thanks for writing" and end with "...please do not hesitate to contact me...". The middle of the letter, where the substance should be is mostly bullshit.

In this case I got exactly the same reply as thousands of other concerned citizens who wrote did. This same form letter, obviously generated by the PMO was sent by scores of Conservative MPs to citizens coast to coast.

One of the things we asked in our letters was about the fact that while in a Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearing, Dean Del Mastro, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, openly muses about cutting all funding to the CBC.when he said when questioning Gary Maavara, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Corus Entertainment, "...do you think it's time that the Canadian government looks at it and says maybe it's time we get out of the broadcasting business..."

Lukiwski ignored that question in his reply. The Harper crowd don't answer "real agenda" questions.

Then he talked about the fact that Jean Chretien cut funding to the CBC when he was in power. I already know about Chretien's record re the CBC. I hate to think how much energy I expended fighting those cuts. What a former Liberal government did is not the issue at hand.

Then he claimed "The NDP's record is no better, having voted against funding for the CBC every year we have been in office" Lukiwski is now pretty much way into left field. The NDP has never voted against funding  to the CBC. They have voted against the Harper Government's budget which is quite a different thing and to be honest I'd be pretty pissed if the didn't.

Lukiwski goes on to suggest that the government's support for the CBC has increased again and again since they have been in power. This is just hocus pocus. In fact, the Conservative figures don't factor in inflation but, constant dollars. The true figure is in the negative.