The air crackled with anger and indignation when CBC president Robert Rabinovitch appeared at the House of Commons heritage committee last month to explain why he locked out 5,500 of his employees and sacrificed regular TV and radio service for almost two months.

MPs of all parties affirmed their belief in public broadcasting but wanted to vent, and be heard venting, at Rabinovitch and the executive team he brought to the committee hearing with him.

"You waged war on your staff,'' accused Liberal MP Mario Silva.

"The people of Canada were stabbed in the back,'' offered the NDP's Charlie Angus.

"There is no confidence in you around this table,'' said Bloc Quebecois MP Carole Lavallee. "The members who are here have no compliments to pay you.''

It's rhetoric that makes good copy for riding newsletters, especially in these anxious pre-election times. For many MPs outside major metropolitan areas, the CBC is the only reliable local conduit to voters and those voters complained loudly when their regular service was interrupted. That's why the government intervened to bring the lockout to an end.

But when the committee discussion turned to the lack of good-quality Canadian drama on CBC television, Mr. Rabinovitch tried to fight back.

``We have not received any new money for new programming in 30 years,'' he said, emphasizing each word with a gentle pound of his fist. "We don't have the money,'' he repeated. "Why aren't we talking about that at this committee?''

CBC Radio vice-president Jane Chalmers said little but what she did say was clearly heartfelt. To paraphrase: The radio network is cut to the bone and operating on a shoestring.

The MPs didn't appear to be listening to either Chalmers or her boss. In their infamous Red Book, published before the 1993 election and co-authored by Paul Martin, the Liberals promised the CBC stable funding to meet its mandate as dictated by the federal Broadcast Act.

Two years later, with the country almost lost in a referendum and Prime Minister Jean Chretien furious at the separatist elements inside Radio-Canada, the same Liberals began slashing the public broadcaster's budget by $400 million in the name of economic necessity. The English network's reporting on the notorious APEC pepper-spray riots two years after that in Vancouver solidified the Chretien government's mood.

Five years ago when he was early in his tenure, Rabinovitch responded to the government cuts and gutted CBC's regional programming across the country.

MPs complained bitterly and are still complaining. Rabinovitch is ambivalent about regional programming but accepts that MPs and their constituents are not. His position is clear: If the MPs want it, the government is going to have to find the money - roughly $100 million over the next three years.

A year ago, Rabinovitch delivered a detailed financial blueprint for regional programming, as requested by heritage committee members. It was, at least, a starting point for serious discussion about funding local services in the many regions that are not economically viable territory for private broadcasters. Neither the committee nor the government has responded to the plan, which now gathers dust on a shelf at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The exhaustive Lincoln report on Canadian culture released last year recommended increased, multi-year, stable funding for the CBC. Federal Heritage Minister Liza Frulla made lots of positive noises and seemed to endorse the report on behalf of the Martin government, but her response was notably short on specifics. Nothing has been heard from her since.

Public broadcasting costs taxpayers about $900 million annually and while it's top of nobody's list as a spending priority, public and political reaction to the lockout debacle suggests that the CBC, especially the radio service, is important to many Canadians.

The lockout was a public- and employee-relations disaster for Rabinovitch, and the shellacking he got from MPs suggests his capital in the capital is about as low as it can go. But that doesn't suddenly make him wrong about everything.

If the government sees a future where the English TV network sinks or swims in the commercial world, it should say so. If it wants regional programming where the need is greatest, it should pay. And if it suspects CBC managers of spending taxpayers' money unwisely, it should bring the corporation firmly under access-to-information legislation and send in auditors.

Sincere expressions of belief in public broadcasting, and puffed-up political indignation over the lockout, are all very well. But at this stage the CBC - and the audience it was created to serve - needs decisions and direction more than it needs rhetoric.

Ottawa Citizen

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2005