Statement made on 31 March 2009 by Senator William Rompkey (retired)
Hon. Bill Rompkey:
Honourable senators, my question is also to the minister.
Today is the sixtieth anniversary of my province joining Canada. I did not grow up listening to the CBC. I grew up listening to the Newfoundland Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, which was modeled on the BBC. Someone has described NBC as an aural hearth — a hearth around which people gathered to hear the news. It was the only way the community came together. Then, when I went to Labrador in 1963, I discovered that CBC was the only broadcaster and today, it is still the only one.
In the North of Canada, CBC is all there is. There are canned American programs coming through from television, and with a satellite signal, satellite radio can be heard, but the point is, in Northern Canada, in Arctic Canada, which has the Aboriginal population to whom this government has a fiduciary responsibility, CBC plays a special role.
I ask the minister if she will impress on Minister Moore the special role CBC plays in the Arctic and, indeed, in remote regions of this country. That is why we must keep the CBC, and that is why she must bring that message to him.
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