Press Release
The Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association and Thunder Bay MPs met with top CBC brass to reaffirm the importance of regional and local broadcasting as well as to state their opposition to recently-announced service and staffing cuts.
The NOMA delegation, lead by Dryden Mayor Anne Krassilowsky, joined the two MPs to press Bill Chambers, CBC vice-president for Corporate Affairs, to save local jobs and programming at its Thunder Bay and Sudbury stations.
“CBC broadcasting is a strong voice for Northwestern Ontario, and assists our communities by connecting us to the rest of the province and Canada,” Mayor Krassilowsky said.
“Across the region, CBC is seen as an essential service and it is a valuable source of information,” she stressed.
The two MPs, Bruce Hyer (Thunder Bay-Superior North) and John Rafferty (Thunder Bay-Rainy River), helped arrange the meeting and agreed with the NOMA delegation about the essential nature of CBC broadcasting in Northwestern Ontario.
“Our rural communities are dependent upon the CBC for news, weather, and entertainment,” said Hyer. “For many small rural communities, the CBC is the only radio they get.
“We cannot lose this essential service.”
“Public broadcasting shouldn’t just be about advertising and market share,” echoed Rafferty.
“It is also about our ability to share our stories and connecting communities,” he argued.
NOMA and the Thunder Bay MPs agreed to continue to work together to stop further job cuts in the two Northern Ontario stations, and to protecting and enhancing local and regional content moving forward.
“I think it was a good meeting and our message was delivered to the top levels of the CBC,” Mayor Krassilowsky said.
