State Broadcaster my A**. . . .

I have never watched SunTV except for a few moments as I was channel flipping. I was recently in Toronto and SunTV was in the lower channels at the hotel so every timed I channel surfed I went by it for a few moments and at one point actually saw one of the SunTV wackos refer to the CBC as the "state broadcaster." Apparently it has become the norm for rightwing nut jobs to constantly refer to the CBC in this way. Mr. Kinsella suggests that his cohorts at SunTV only do this as a way of poking fun at the CBC, but this is obviously a falsehood.

Referring to the CBC as a "state broadcaster" is an intentional, ideological attempt to discredit the corporation at every level. It is the rightwinger's way of suggesting that the CBC is the modern equivalent to the TASS news agency or Pravda from the days of Soviet Communism. The problem with this characterization is that it is patently counterfactual. Indeed the CBC receives money from the state but it operates at arms length. If the standard that we are to employ for an institution being an arm of the State were that it received money from the government then we could say that half the large corporations in the country are little more than state institutions. And since oil companies are particularly blatant recipients of grants and credits from the government, then SunTV should start referring to Esso as a "State Energy Company."

All of this further points to the blatant hypocrisy in the rightwing in this country who ironically support 'socialism' and government controls in countless ways but only attack those areas where those state processes don't help large corporations have more control and make billions. The rightwing in this country are de facto fascists because they continue to want the state to operate as a voice and arm or corporations and grease the wheels of big capital to make more money and have greater control of people's lives. Every time rightwingers use the phrase "State Broadcaster" they are demonstrating their hypocrisy to everyone who has even a little analysis of the political economy of the nation. If the CPC really hate socialism let them renounce all state-funded education, state-funded healthcare, all regulations on health and safety, all trade regulations, the existence of the CRTC, etc. They will not because a) then they would never get elected again, b) they know that the so-called market would never work as the unfettered system that they claim to advocate and c) because it is a hallmark of fascism to support a large state apparatus but one that slowly shifts power to corporations and silences the masses.