Spend CBC cash on health

Re: The case for breaking up the increasingly hungry CBC, Jesse Kline, Jan. 21

The CBC is a massive death star that distorts the orbits of all Canadian journalism. A free and independent media is essential to democracy and when by far the largest news organization is an organ of the state it is very unhealthy. I quite sincerely used to love the CBC but the time has come for it to be broken up.

Charles Caldwell, Saskatoon

Jesse Kline reminds us that the CBC received $1.4 billion in taxpayer-based funding last year alone. Meanwhile, as this pandemic has progressed, we have learned that our “universal health-care system” is not so universal. Thousands of surgeries have been cancelled during the past two years because there are insufficient ICU beds and resources available as COVID patients are given priority. That our health-care system was allowed to become so inefficient flies in the face of the government preparing to give even more money to a broadcast agency that has been proven over and over again to be a bottomless pit of waste and mismanagement. This on its own is a travesty. That the current federal government is even considering doing it is ludicrous.

Stop funding the CBC and put all that money into fixing Canada’s health-care system now, please.

Ron Grossman, Ottawa, Ont.

Seems to me that the CBC is bloated, overfunded and only serves a selective segment of the masses in Canada. Hospitals conversely, need resources urgently and have endless demand, especially lately, from every kind of Canadian. Perhaps then we can retrofit the CBC head office and a few key satellites into health-care facilities that will truly serve all. Paul Coulombe, Toronto