Happy Birthday CBC – maybe it’s time for retirement?

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation turns 75 this week.

It isn't necessarily a very happy birthday for the storied national broadcaster however, as it battles a growing chorus of negative public opinion.

In a difficult economic climate, while the Federal government is looking to cut $4 billion from their operating expenditures, the CBC (who received $1.16 billion of taxpayers money in 2010), has become an easy target.

Leading the charge against the CBC has been right leaning media conglomerate Sun Media.

"The Canadian government used to own a gas station called PetroCanada. It was privatized. No big deal. The Canadian government used to own an airline called Air Canada. It was privatized. No big deal," Sun News personality Ezra Levant wrote in a column last summer.

"The Canadian government owns a TV and radio station called the CBC. It should be privatized, too. Set taxpayers free from the CBC."

More recently , Pierre Karl Peladeau, President and CEO of Sun Media's parent company Quebecor, has taken the CBC to task for allegedly blocking access to information requests about how the broadcaster spends its $1.1 billion of public money.

There are also others speaking out against the CBC.

In an op-ed column in the National Post on Tuesday, Jason Clemens, director of research at theMacDonald-Laurier Institute, agrees the government has a role in promoting educational efforts about our country's history, culture, and identity but appropriately asks: is spending $1.1 billion a year on national broadcaster the best way to do this?

"The practical question is whether alternatives to the status quo could achieve better results," Clemens writes.

"The evidence suggests, quite strongly, that a number of lower-cost options could achieve similar, if not better, results than the CBC."

Enjoy this milestone event CBC.

Your 100th birthday is far from a guarantee.