Nathan Cullen has rural concerns over CBC cuts

The announcement last week by the CBC, which outlined the scope of the 657 positions eliminated at the national broadcaster, has given NDP MP Nathan Cullen cause to raise his concerns over the possible impact on rural communities across Canada.

The Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP expressed his belief that as it is now, rural communities which he believes are already under-serviced, that will suffer the most and that any further cuts to the service reduces the ability of rural communities to remain connected.

“The CBC plays an important role in keeping rural communities such as ours connected to the national conversation with local programs and stations.”  ...  “We do not know the locations of the cuts yet, but regional services will be losing 48 positions. These cuts will further penalize francophone communities in rural areas.” -- Nathan Cullen on recent job cuts at the CBC and the impact from them to rural Canada.

Of the 657 job cuts, 100 are expected to come from various regions of the CBC.

In British Columbia, the cuts were not as drastic as in the east, with as of yet, no mention of any cuts to such services as the Daybreak North programming which serves Northern British Columbia from the Peace through to Haida Gwaii.

The nature of CBC Radio program was an issue for Prince Rupert City Council earlier this year, though a meeting with CBC executives last month (before the latest cuts) appears to have provided some answers to Council's questions.

You can review more of Mr. Cullen's concerns for the National broadcaster from this NDP press release, that was distributed last Friday.

We have more on media developments in the Northwest on our archive page.