come on folks a few more $$....

...do you really need to go to the movies or have another latte? Go for a walk and send the $$ to The Tyee.
We need The Tyee to be out there "on the ground" during this election.

My second cheque is in the mail.

Er,....no

"the CBC is seeing its funding cut, ..."

Sorry David but the CBC has not had its funding cut at all. The CBC like many media in the world today is seeing revenues decrease and therefore cuts are being done to staff and programmes but the CBC has not had its funding cut.

"March 25, 2009 at 8:31 PM EDT

The CBC told employees Wednesday it will cut about 800 jobs in an effort to save $171-million amid a flagging economy that has seen advertising revenues plummet."

From the CBC:
By Ira Basen
OK, so how much do the taxpayers spend on the CBC every year? To answer that question we are going to look at the annual appropriation bill passed by Parliament every June, formally known as "An Act for granting to Her Majesty certain sums of money for the federal public administration."

For comparison purposes, we are going to go start with the last appropriation act passed by the Martin government in June 2005, and end with the most recent one passed by the Harper government last June.

Here's what the numbers tell us:

2005 — $982,414,000.
2006 — $1,114,039,002.
2007 — $1,043,953,000.
2008 — $1,115,424,000.

So here's the bottom line. Harper was correct. The inflation-adjusted operating budget of the CBC has increased by approximately 6.5 per cent between the last Liberal appropriation of June 2005, and the last Harper appropriation of June 2008."

That's from the Mother Corp themselves David!

What's most important?

I just made a donation to your election journalism fund.

ELECTION REFORM! Without election reform, STV or some other best-practices method, there CANNOT be substantive, long-term change.

Sprru R/MAN

The CBC has a 171 million dollar shortfall right now...and, don't forget, those fiscal partners of the current Ottawa bunch - the Federal Liberals - lopped some 400 million out of the CBC's budget years ago - from which the corporation has never recovered.

See Saw

Then it should instead read, the CBC SAW its funding cut (under the federal Liberals).

"So here's the bottom line. Harper was correct. The inflation-adjusted operating budget of the CBC has increased..."

Baloney

In 2008 the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage called for an increase in the CBC's parliamentary grant from the present $33 per capita to $40. This would give CBC the money it needs to maintain and grow its services.

The average per capita investment in public broadcasting in Western democracies is $80 per capita, so adopting the Heritage Committee's plan would bring Canada to only half that average.

I know some so-called Canadians don't care about the main cultural link that keeps this country together.

That, in my view, and I think it's shared by Harper and his clones - is what's truly sad.

But, for a start, let's at least get the record straight!

OK R/Man

So the CBC has had its funding cut under liberals. Then the Harperites did nothing about it for how many years is that? So in total the funding has been cut and if we consider in "real dollars" they didn't keep up under Harper either.

Blogged

As I write in this post, electoral reform is by far the most crucial issue for me in this election, as it was in 2005. If BC-STV fails to pass the unfair, undemocratic 60% threshold imposed by the BC government, it will mark the last provincial election in which I will cast a vote.

Have urged all electoral reformers to support two worthy causes: The Tyee and BC-STV.

Virk Basi /Campbell BC Rail Scandal

I want to thank you so much for keeping us up to date on this CRIME (Leg BC Rail Raid) that Campbell and the SUN & Province are carefully hiding at the bid of Campbell. It is no coincidence that he gets endorsed by them every election. Sure Mike Smith or Palmer may write a column on the issue. How many daily readers read special columns. They read the headlines etc. So they make sure it gets buried on p.26 if covered at all as a news item. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS??? Hardly.

Question

Which number counts in The Tyee's determination of the ranking of the issues? The number of donors voting for issue X, or the number of dollars contributing to issue X?

Interesting

The lack of detail in this bar graph is suspect but disregarding that for a moment I think it well reflects the common concern of the votes the NDP needs to attract to deliver the upset on May 12th.

If the party continues its take back your BC message coupled with the alternative government in waiting confidence (which can only be backed by clear populist policy) they can do it!

The platform is a good start, I just hope they have some green bullets tucked away to finish the job.

$8560.00 and counting...

To cocean:

This graph assigns one 'vote' per dollar donated. You make a good point. When the contest is over, we will graph it both ways: $ per issue, and donors per issue.

And I agree, a more regularly updated ticker would be a better way to share the success of the election issues fundraising drive with the readers, but not having the software I'll just have to share the numbers as they roll in. As of this morning, you and other members of the Tyee community had donated $8560. We are very grateful and eager to apply it to more election reporting. For a first taste of what you've made possible, see this Monday's article on BC Liberal welfare policies by Andrew MacLeod.

To Politico:

Point taken. We'll publish a more detailed graphic reflecting the results at the end of the drive April 14.

To Realisticman:

You're right. I should have been clear that the CBC budget has been cut drastically due to ad revenue shortfalls. It being a government operation, however, the case can be made that government could extend a bridging loan or some other help through this down cycle to keep Canada's journalism jewel polished. Instead, there's serious talk of bailing out Canwest and CTV with taxpayers' millions, but no extra public money to shore up the CBC's bottom line.

To GWest and Skywalker:

You're right, too. In the past decade, CBC's budget has been seriously cut, and the Harper budgets haven't made up for it in any substantive way. Thanks for the spirited engagement.

info about Hydro

I would like to see more stories about the costs of private power. Thanks

R/man - CBC Budget

The CBC budget issue is revenue shortfall. To make up for this shortfall, significant staffing cuts have been imposed with the possibility of selling assets to help reduce the impact. Of course, selling assets during a downturn in the economy is not ideal.

The following comments from the CBC website on March 17, 2007 titled “CBC approves budget; cuts expected” states:

Heritage Minister James Moore….. acknowledged the broadcaster has some "difficult decisions to make in the near future." ………….
"Two-thirds of CBC's budget comes from taxpayers, one-third from ad revenue. If ad revenue is down, then CBC has to make decisions about how it's going to make adjustments for the immediate future," Moore said.
Lacroix has said that selling assets, increasing advertising and cutting jobs and programs could help bridge part of the budget shortfall.

David Beers

OK. Like other extremely low-income British Columbians, making a donation is next to impossible for me. That said:

Confirmation number: 7J6025404B467400W
Donation amount: $5.00 CAD
Total: $5.00 CAD
Purpose: The Tyee
Reference: Election Coverage
Contributor: Chrystal Ocean
Phone: 1234567 [Haven't a phone]
Message: The referendum on electoral reform or BC-STV.

Electoral reform is a HUGE issue for people whose voices have long one unheeded. The major parties will pay lip service to issues like poverty/homelessness, the environment, etc. Then they ignore them once elected.

BC Hydro BC Rail

Just fired in my donation, your site is slightly screwed up for payment. I know how I want to pay and don't need to be prompted to donate by Pay Pal??

Anyway,most people in BC don't know that BC Hydro is spending hundreds of millions of $ to upgrade powerhouses, substations and transformer farms to allow the RUIN OF THE RIVER foreign owned for profit hydro outfits to hook up to our (we the people of BC)power transmission system for FREE so they can sell us power at 10 to 20 times what BC Hydro can produce it for.

Some interprizing media type should be able to ferret out how and why this and the BC Rail Kensella corruption thing happened and who the BC Liebrel players are.
A lot of Liebrels and some of their leaders should lose Legislature seats or, best case senario, end up in jail after all this plays out!
Good luck in getting some real info into the election campaign.

Corruption - The Number One Concern

I am trying to figure out why Corruption is considered the main concern for people who want to donate to TheTyee. Maybe what they are really saying is they want more honesty from their politicians.

I am reminded of a friend who went into local politics. His platform was that he was an honest politician and he was voted into office based on that simple statement.

Once elected he discovered that there were restrictions on what he ould talk about to the public. The three L's (legal, labour and land) were areas of his knowledge in government that he was specifically banned from commenting on.

It didn't take long for many who had voted for him to start the name calling.

Issues that were before, or about to go before the court, he could not comment on and thus was described in the coffee shops as "corrupt"...

Discussions abot government employees that had done things wrong were not open to discussion and thus...

And in the end he wanted more parks for the community, but you guessed it, he was not allowed to get public input on which land mightmake the best park, so the local newspaper published a letter that described, without naming names, the corrupt politicians that were making back room deals with their "friends" to use government money to buy park land.

Perhaps how one defines corrupt would help to understand what the concerns are of the stone slingers.

David Beers

Thank you for confirming the accuracy of what I wrote. Clarity is refreshing and fair. The word 'funding' when related to the CBC is heavily politically loaded. A revenue shortfall due to reduced advertising sales is quite different than a cut in funding from the government.

As you also say, bridge funding from the government could alleviate the situation but assumes that the situation will ultimately improve. As new media, such as your own, successfully siphons off an increasing tranche of the ad dollar pie speculation increases that a newer model for the mother corp may be indicated.

Interim financing would also suggest exempting the CBC from the economic downturn. Whereas confronting this reality when all others have to could be considered appropriate.

If the government were to act on your supposition and public funding became forthcoming for private media, while simultaneously ignoring the public broadcaster this would unquestionably be a worthy news story.

Neither cuts to funding nor support to competitors have yet occurred. They can only be speculated upon, just like the weather.

Pax.

The question, at bottom

Is that the fate of independent public broadcasting - which is far more vital to a civilized and decent country - should not be at the mercy of Paul Martins and Stephen Harpers or particularly, political polecats like the current minister of heritage James Moore. He can't even tell the truth about the fact that the Conservatives are incapable of following Election Canada's rules on election spending.

Canada's future as an independent country hangs in the balance - a vital and well-funded CBC is essential to that future.

The survival of the country through economic downturns is meaningless if the only independent cultural institutions with any sense of history and continuity are sacrificed on the altar of neo-con expediency along with everything else of any lasting value.

Surely the last two years, if nothing else, has made that plain.

Thanks Chrystal! (cocean)

We appreciate your donation, and I'm glad you reminded that a lot of our readers are on limited incomes, so are making a real sacrifice in whatever they give. Reflecting that reality, we merely request 'Give what you can' and we feel a serious responsibility to apply whatever donations we receive directly to reporting on The Tyee.

Name your corruption, please.

G West said 8 hours ago

"I think the source of the corruption is entirely clear - particularly in the context of the current provincial administration."

Help me put this into context. I have not experienced the corruption that you speak of and I expect that I might be able to find out if there was any truth to your comments if I could start with a specific example and do my own digging.

Help me out here. I want to donate to the cause, but I am wordering if I would be wiser to buy advertising instead. In fact, I wonder why the rest of you are not buying advertising to get your points across?

Advertising Dollars vs Donation Dollars

This is now getting quite interesting.

If I buy $500 worth of advertising on The Tyee instead of Donating, do I still get to say how I want my dollars spent?

David Allen

Have a look at:
a) the controverted and controversial 'sale' of BC Rail;
b) the extent and involvement in contracts rewarding and personal benefits derived from and directed to various of the 'businesses' who also happen to be enormous contributors to the BC Liberal Party;
c) the increasingly pervasive effect of interference (often by friends and supporters of the Premier) of many of these same individuals in the professional operations of the upper levels of the civil service;
d) the reluctance of the Campbell government to keep its word and honour its contracts and undertakings with a wide variety of bodies, individuals and promises;
e) the increasing involvement in the disposition of assets and the management of the provinces affairs by bodies and corporate groups who are neither headquartered nor answerable to Canadian and British Columbian oversight.
f) the distinct possibility that the centralizing of management functions in the Premier's Office is negating the effectiveness and the future of democratic institutions like the Legislature;
g) the serial refusal, based on the most pathetic and generally legally suspect reasoning, to respond to the courts in a timely and open way;
h) the complicit manner in which the operation of a group called the Public Affairs Bureau has manipulated the free and open operations of the fourth estate - especially through the misuse of FOI.
i) the misuse and perversion of the functions of the legislature as a deliberative body.
j) the emasculation of the ministries of the government and the usurpation of their role by a small clique of individuals in and answerable only to themselves in the Premier's Office;
k) the serial refusal to even address the problems of child poverty and the fate of children in care in this province – even after numerous reports and findings of under-funding and strapped professional management;
l) the continuing disinformation with respect to native governance and treaty making in the province.

Start digging!

You might care to begin here:

http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/

Reality Check

Ministry of Information? Interesting term and its what Can West has become as we live in a one media town. The Conservatives are getting all decked out for the race as those who can't quite rap themselves around a Socialist agenda are finding the Conservatives a party of special interest. And of course everybody wants to know the people in power are not going to sell the town, which is interestingly enough what the Greed Institute, Fraser said Campbell's Government needed to do as far as the Institute could figure along with the wealthy paying the lowest taxes.
Canwest and the Greed Institute are no strangers as Conrad Black sits as a senior member although I'm not sure how his conviction for fraud has affected his involvement. However he did defraud his investors but isn't that to be expected when you have an Institute that personifies Greed. Its nice to see Black in Stripes makes me feel all good inside to know that guys like Black aren't spreading their kinda views while ripping off investors and readers with a controlled message.
"Sell everything off," says the Institute during receissionary times. Wasn't that what Campbell has been doing as its whats made for the interesting read. And a little reality check as with BC Rail and Basi/Virk, and Judy, Judy, who gets a premier's payoff for a clerk's job all makes for interesting news as she also sits on VANOC while being a long time acquatiance of premier's along with Dobin. And its no wonder Corruption in on the minds of readers along with the environment. Its on the minds of the world as global economy causes many a heads to spin on the tell end of things. So far nobodies telling but they will its the nature of the beast once it is fed it outgrows it makers and takes a form of it's owns, as it becomes the days news. No fooling, thats right, no fooling all the people all the time.
And thanks to the Tyee we get a no fooling type of news, and its not only informative its essential for citizens as never before has it be so important for citizens to truly grasp the meaning of today's world events at the very time when regular news outlets are in obvious decline. How else can decisions be made that will enable people to make decisions for the task at hand for the present and the future if they are left in the dark and still remain a democracy as we need a free press for it to remain in tact. And not one swayed by advertisers but by readers. Surprised crime's not a issue or would that also fall into corruption?

udpate?

Sent 10$ yesterday. Update on the fundraising total?

Who is donating?

It seems a bit odd that you don't post any kind of breakdown of the numbers of individuals vs. organizations making donations along with the average donations by each.

That would be standard fare for any political reporting so one would expect the Tyee to follow at least the same standards.

Without that info one might suspect that large donors are manupulating your figures to imply that there is a greater public interst in subjects where one political party has an advantage over another.

Social Cretin

It does seem utterly incredulous that The Economy is almost not even on the list. There again, The Liberals have been consistently named by the Polls as those best able and desired to tackle the difficult economy we are now experiencing.

Judging from the fact the NDP platform really had nothing in it that would stimulate the economy and create jobs, it seems obvious that they wish to fight the election on an intangible, namely corruption. This should be difficult since so far nobody, that I can remember, has resigned from this government because of any proven underhanded activities.

The NDP can't really fight the election on the Environment file since they clearly have let this one slip, to say the least.

Expect that in the next couple of weeks attempts at engendering suspicion in voters minds will be the NDP thrust. Abstract concepts that they hope will stick.

Releasing the NDP Policy Platform just before the long weekend guarantees very little fanfare and minimal press. This was obviously a calculated strategy because there ain't much in it! Just the usual promises and nice talk. Cheaper gas and a little hike in booze seem to be the highlights.

Social Cretin, stay tuned

The graph above is just a quick snapshot half way through the drive. As I said in a comment higher up, we'll be producing a more detailed graphic after the drive ends on April 14.

the economy

should be given a higher priority. The public needs to know that every project Gordo touches involves massive cost overruns and funny accounting. The biggest myth out there is that he knows what he is doing.

Issues

Carole James just said that Gateway is a go, she also promises to lower gas prices and introduce legislation to prohibit ticket scalping and if the regulations are in place Run-of-River projects could be okay. As well Carole agrees that BC Place should have a retractable roof.

Stay tuned.