To:	Liza Frulla Minister of Canadian Heritage House of Commons Email: Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca
	Robert Rabinovitch President and CEO Acting Chair, Board of Directors Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Email: robert_rabinovitch@cbc.ca
	Prime Minister Paul Martin House of Commons Ottawa Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
cc:	Canadian Media Guild Media Contact: Karen Wirsig Email: guild@interlog.com

On behalf of the York University Faculty Association, we express our strong concern over the lockout of CBC employees by management, the proposals for dramatic reconstruction of the Corporation and for increased reliance on contract workers, and also the government’s ongoing cutbacks of funding for the CBC. We are addressing our concerns both to the Board of the CBC and to the Government of Canada, which is responsible for funding the CBC.

As educators, we find that our work is supported by the CBC. Its newscasts regularly provide different perspectives on major issues facing us and promote critical thinking about these issues. Its cultural programs reflect a belief in the vitality and importance of Canadian culture, and an excitement about the diversity of this huge land. It sets a standard for quality with which the private sector in broadcasting must compete (and a standard against which we can measure programs coming to us from south of the border). Because of the CBC, we are assured that when our students leave the university, they will enter a society in which there is a tradition of free discussion and in which they will have easy access to information they need for the responsibilities of citizenship.

The CBC needs to build on its traditions of independence and excellence and on the devotion of its employees. It does not need to remake itself, and above all it does not need to remake itself by a growing reliance on contract labour. CBC employees have the right to job security and the right to plan their careers. The CBC needs their talents and commitment.

We urge the management of the CBC to resume negotiations. At the same time, we urge the federal government to restore the budget cuts it has inflicted on the CBC. The lockout may well have a lasting effect on the size of its audience and undermine the strong support the CBC enjoys. The government has enjoyed a series of large surpluses. The time to restore funding for the CBC is now.

Arthur Hilliker,
YUFA President
on behalf of the YUFA Executive Committee