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A house divided against itself cannot stand is a banality were all familiar with, but what too many Canadians cant seem to get their heads around is that a national broadcaster supported overwhelmingly by the governing Liberals but bitterly opposed by Conservatives cannot stand, either, and probably shouldnt. You can blame Pierre Poilievre for this state of affairs if you like. But Justin Trudeaus Liberals are every bit as guilty.

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For the Liberals, its become a matter of scripture that they saved the CBC from its penury during the Harper years, and theres a grain of truth to that. But the facts show that the CBC occupies a kind of sacred space in the political imagination thats unique to the Trudeau Liberals. Its a bit weird, and its bad news for the CBC.

While Justin Trudeaus government replenished what the Harper Conservatives had drawn down, every government since the Mulroney era of the 1980s had chipped away at the CBCs budget. The grand slasher of them all was Liberal prime minister Jean Chrtien, who left the CBC with 25 per cent fewer dollars in 2003 than the broadcaster was being allocated when Chrtien was elected in 1993, and Chrtiens Liberal successor, Paul Martin, trimmed another seven per cent over the following three years. Harper merely bit off another 14 per cent: $173 million.

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In the run-up to the carefully choreographed outrage over Twitters accurate designation of the CBC as government-funded, Musk had been having quite the lark with news organizations. He tagged the BBC government-funded media, then switched the BBC to publicly-funded after the Beeb kicked up a fuss. He did worse to NPR, tagging the venerable public network as state-affiliated as though it were a dictators mouthpiece, then switched NPRs label to government-funded, which was still wrong.

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Thisbrings us towhat I mean by over the top.

Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez: Whats new is that Pierre Poilievre (is) running to U.S. billionaires to help weaken the public broadcaster We know all too well what happens when politicians twist the facts and treat the media as the enemy. We cant let that happen in Canada.

That was a bit rich, given that the Liberals own battalions of Twitter fuseliers have expended so much manic energy these past few weeks bombarding and ambuscading pretty well every Canadian newsroom that doesnt have the CBC logo on it: Dens of racists and liars and sinister right-wing plotters, the lot of them, being mean to Justin just because of all the Beijing-affiliated billionaires and influence pedlars who have made themselves so comfortably at home in Trudeaus company over the years.

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Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault: Poilievre is a threat to Canadian democracy, plain and simple. Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne: Pierre Poilievre is undermining himself, our institutions and our democracy. Prime Minister Trudeau himself, speaking about Poilievres Conservatives: When theyre trying to attack a foundational Canadian institution, the fact that he has to run to American billionaires for support to attack Canadians, it says a lot about Mr. Poilievre and his values.

This strikes me as nuts, and not just because Musk is a Canadian citizen. You could say that Poilievre was a bit nuts, too, writing Musk directly to ask him to list the CBC as government-funded media and then celebrating it when he did, this way: CBC officially exposed as government-funded media. Now people know that it is Trudeau propaganda, not news.

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Well, no, thats not quite what people know, and its an insult to the many hardworking CBC news reporters who have been doing their best to maintain neutrality, knowing full well that if Poilievres Conservatives ever take office the chances are fairly good that theyll be unemployed. Its also an insult to everyones intelligence to suggest that the CBC is still that beloved and vital corner of the airwaves where Canadians could talk to another from the cities of the south to the towns and villages of the far north, and from coast to coast to coast a place where Canadians can have their own conversations away from the deafening commotion of the vast American news and entertainment complex.

That CBC is as dead and finished as The Beachcombers.

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Lately, the CBC has become a primary entry point for the diffusion of the American culture wars into Canada, and like Trudeau, CBC President Catherine Tait has happily enlisted as a partisan in those same faddish preoccupations and obsessions.

There are those of us who still cling to the proposition that a well-funded national broadcaster could uphold an idea of Canada that leaves everyone with some dignity and serves as a rampart against the rising bedlam of ever-multiplying grievance constituencies and identity groupuscules. But were losing the argument.

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In any case, this weeks histrionics from all quarters amply demonstrate that a state-funded broadcaster cant and probably shouldnt survive if its wildly loved by the governing party and loathed by Her Majestys Loyal Opposition.

Terry Glavin is an author and journalist.

Read more:
Glavin: The Liberals' weird fixation with the CBC is the real problem - Ottawa Citizen