The lockout of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation employees amazes me. The idea that a fundamentally public institution that is given public trust, tax revenues and a mission to inform and entertain the Canadian public can simply be shut down by it's numerous layers of management...wow. It hold too important a place in our fragile and illusive Canadian identity to simply shut down. The lack of government intervention to put things back on track lets us know where our national priorities are going. Our very identity, our reputation as an informed and socially-enlightened nation are at risk.
A friend told me yesterday she thinks it's not that big a deal that CBC shut down, that the lockout does not deserve the attention it is getting at home or abroad. I disagree.
The CBC is simply another fundamentally necessary part of our system that is crumbling. The media, our health care and education systems, our roads even...all submitting to privatization it seems. This is not how we do things. This is not who we are.