CBC cuts to jobs, spending could have been much worse if some Tories had their way

CBC count your blessings - it could have been have been a lot worse.

Our national broadcaster announced Wednesday they would cut 650 jobs over the next three years after last week's federal budget slashed its funding by more than 10 per cent in that same period.

In dollar terms, that means funding to the CBC will be trimmed by $27.8 million next year, $41.8 million in 2013-14 and by $45.4 million in 2014-15.

In addition to the job cuts, CBC will cancel some programs and boost ad revenues.

Peter Murdoch, Vice-President Media for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, issued a statement stating the Harper government is bullying the CBC.

"A strong voice for demanding government accountability is being bullied," said Murdoch.

"The CBC is not the F-35 gone wrong. Quite the contrary. It is built to serve the public and has wide support across the country. To force the dismantling of it through vindictive withdrawal of resources is abhorrent to the Canadian character and Conservative history."

The cuts, however, are not enough for some Tory MPs.

"I lobbied hard for bigger cuts there," Conservative MP Larry Miller told the Sun News Network on Friday.

"I was expecting a minimum of 10 per cent cut a year and it's 10 per cent over three years."

Other Tory MPs like Rob Anders and Garry Breitkreuz had both submitted petitions to Parliament calling on the government to completely stop funding the CBC.

And it's no secret that Prime Minister Harper is not a CBC booster.

In 2004, as leader of the Opposition, Stephen Harper said he would like to put CBC on a "more commercial footing."

"I've suggested that government subsidies in support of CBC's services should be to those things that are not . . . do not have commercial alternatives," Harper told a crowd in Winnipeg.

The CBC broadcasts in English and French, as well as in eight aboriginal languages, with a legislated mandate to provide distinctly Canadian programming.

For those interested, tonight's "distinctly Canadian" prime time schedule, includes 'Wheel of Fortune,' 'Coronation Street,' and 'Jeopardy.'