Stand with FRIENDS and fight for the CBC

FRIENDS is appealing to the Cabinet to send the CRTC’s decision on the terms for CBC’s licence renewal back for reconsideration. Soon, our appeal will be heard along with more than a dozen others — that’s how much attention and concern this decision has attracted.

And we need your help to push this appeal over the finish line!

Never in its long history has it been more important to fight for the CBC we deserve — for today, and for tomorrow. In addition to urging the Minister of Canadian Heritage to proceed with the government’s pledge to modernize the CBC’s mandate, our appeal is advocating for:

More Local News — which the CBC is uniquely positioned to deliver but which the CRTC failed to require committed funding for;
An End to Tandem — the commercial plan that would use the CBC’s treasured journalism platform as a trading house for bought and paid-for branded content; and
Canadian Programming — to address the lack of binding expenditure commitments for Canadian programming on all platforms.

Our appeal is aimed at securing these important goals that are vital to a CBC that can flourish going forward.

Join us in telling the Prime Minister to fight for the CBC by adding your name to this petition. One appeal is easy to dismiss. But an appeal backed by a crush of countless Canadians — thousands, tens of thousands of us — that is a whole lot harder to overlook!

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Dear Prime Minister,
 
I am writing to you as a concerned Canadian citizen regarding the recent decision by the CRTC setting out the conditions for CBC’s licence renewal. The new conditions weaken our national public broadcaster and move it even further away from its important mandate. I therefore call on you to send the CRTC decision back for reconsideration.

I want a strong CBC that delivers informative news, especially local news, and quality Canadian programming. But the CRTC is allowing the CBC to move towards more commercialization with Tandem, its branded content initiative. It has also failed to set concrete funding obligations for both the delivery of local news and the creation of original Canadian programs that I have come to love.

Less than one year ago, you told Canadians that you would modernize the CBC to help support and strengthen it for the future and reduce its reliance on advertising. The CRTC decision flies in the face of both these commitments.  How you respond to this appeal will be the true indication of your commitment to delivering on these promises.

Prime Minister, I call on you to stand with Canadians like myself who care about the future of our public broadcaster. Please support FRIENDS’ appeal by returning this decision to the CRTC for reconsideration. Never in its long history has it been more important to fight for the CBC Canadians deserve for today, and for tomorrow.

Thank you!

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