From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

The percentage of Canadians who watch CBC content is within the statistical margin of error. Which, incidentally, I find encouraging – the ideological drivel they serve under the banner of ‘Canadian content’ has caused Canadians to tune out.

Last May, the editorial board of the Globe and Mail took an uncharacteristically surprising position. Canada’s state broadcaster the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), they observed, has failed by any metric: 

CBC English-language television is failing badly. CBC’s third-quarter report shows its share of the national prime-time viewing audience dropped to 4.4 per cent (excluding Saturday), down sharply from 7.6 per cent in 2018, and trending below target for the year. Or, to turn that around: 95.6 per cent of TV-viewing Canadians do not tune in to CBC’s English language prime-time programming. 

Supper-hour newscasts in English-speaking markets are attracting tiny audiences. In Calgary, the CBC daily broadcast reaches just 20,000 people, on average. 

As English TV audiences have been shrinking, the CBC’s annual government funding has increased, up nearly 21 per cent from 2016, to $1.24-billion in 2022. (That funding is for all of CBC’s operations, not just English television).

The CBC is effectively crowding out competitors using money given to them by the government (which the government took from the taxpayers). Canadians are paying for something that, by the numbers, they do not want. We are funding the careers of delusional activists who use tax dollars to aggressively push a far-left agenda, campaigning against any Canadian conservative who dares to say something mildly centrist and for the boundary-smashing agenda of the LGBT movement.  

In short, we are paying for the extravagantly expensive vanity project of a handful of out-of-touch elites who claim they are essential but cannot get a viewership for their state-funded content. The percentage of Canadians who watch CBC content is within the statistical margin of error. Which, incidentally, I find encouraging – the ideological drivel they serve under the banner of “Canadian content” has caused Canadians to tune out. 

Consider, for example, a new CBC documentary – part of a series ironically titled “The Nature of Things” – titled Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary. “Non-binary Toronto comedian and actor Mae Martin says their new documentary about gender fluidity feels especially relevant as transgender rights ‘are really under attack’ in Canada and the United States,” CityNews Toronto reported. Martin wants to tackle “dangerous myths about gender identity perpetuated on both sides of the border,” such as the reality of biological sex. 

The documentary is directed by a former executive producer of “Canada’s Drag Race” and takes aim at Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s science-driven proposal to ban sex change “treatments” for minors, which Martin calls “disheartening”: “It’s so disheartening. To feel like you have no recourse and no support and you’re being demonized, particularly when you’re young and going to school, I think that’s pretty devastating.” To be clear, this is a government-funded LGBT activist cosplaying as a comedian getting paid by the state to attack an elected premier for advocating a policy supported by a solid majority of Canadians.  

Martin, who is a trans-identifying female, had a double mastectomy in 2021, went on testosterone afterwards, and is an advocate for “sex change” surgeries. She did not explain why, if she is “non-binary,” she needs to use the “they” pronoun – or why she needed surgeries or drugs at all. She did, however, explain how female lions who develop masculine traits when taking care of the pride is an example of evidence for the transgender movement’s premises. If you believe that, I’ve got a pretty good idea of who you’re voting for. 

Martin enthused that it is very exciting for “a revered institution” like the CBC to tackle gender fluidity, and said she hopes Fluid will create “more empathy and understanding” among Canadians. Unfortunately for Martin but fortunately for the Canadian public, almost nobody watches this stuff. We do, however, have yet another example of why a Conservative government needs to make defunding the CBC a top priority. The CBC is no longer revered; it is barely relevant. We shouldn’t have to pay for a handful of activists to talk to themselves and their delusional clique.

Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.