EDITORIAL: Restore RCI (01/14/96)

EDITORIAL

Restore RCI

In 1995, Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to cut funding to the country's Radio Canada International service in half In mid-December, this was followed by an announcement by RCl's parent body, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., that the service would be terminated as of, fittingly, April 1, 1996.

The first wave of cuts hit in 1991, halving RCl's staff and language services and severely compromising its ability to make Canada's voice heard in the world, despite a spirited defense by the then minister of external affairs, Joe Clark.

In February 1995, the federal government ignored an explicit recommendation by a special Senate commission to restore RCI funding to pre-1991 levels, and made the first in a series of moves to end its financial backing.

Given the atmosphere of hysteria generated by the ideology of cutbacks and downsizing sweeping the North American and European public and private sectors, it is no longer surprising when blunders are committed.

But, as Canadian journalist Alan Fotheringham put it when he weighed in on the question in a January 9 column for the Financial Post, "there are stupid things going on in Ottawa, and then there are really stupid things."

What is surprising is that some things are still considered worth fighting for, RCI appears to be one such institution. A groundswell of international support for the station has roused even the normally placid Canadian public and media to attack the move to shut down RCI.

Ever since the December 12 announcement, the government has been reeling under the resentment and ridicule it has generated. The staid Toronto-based "national newspaper" The Globe and Mail has inveighed against it.

Montreal-based Le Devoir publisher Lise Bissonette asked, "What's more essential: that Radio Canada [the CBCI, salivating over ratings, compete with the private sector to produce costly sports, variety and humor programs, or that it maintain an international service that informs, educates and unites millions of listeners around the world?"

Indeed.

Everyone from students to the Canadian Exporters' Association have come out in support of RCI. Even rivals, such as an official of the highly respected BBC World Service, have taken to writing personal letters to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The director of Radio Ukraine checked in with a missive, as have the Ukrainian World Congress and virtually every branch of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

In 1991, RCl's staff were despondent as the executioner brought down his axe. Public awareness was low, reaction was minimal. Today, with their backs against the wall, led by an employee-run Coalition to Restore Full RCI Funding, they are in fighting trim. And they have many in Canada and around the world behind them.

RCI deserves the Ukrainian community's full support. Pens and pencils out. Targets: Prime Minister Chretien, Foreign Minister Andre Ouellet, Heritage Minister Marcel Dupuy, Mr. Chretien's Parliamentary Secretary Jean Augustine, your local MP and CBC President Perrin Beatty.

Restore RCI.

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