By Frances Russell | May 29, 2013 A public broadcaster is independent of the government of the day. A state broadcaster is the government's propaganda machine. The former promotes democratic freedom of speech and opinion; the latter imposes authoritarian state control over speech and opinion. If the Conservatives get their way, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will cease being a public broadcaster and become a state broadcaster, warns Ian Morrison of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Canada will then be the only western democracy to have a state, rather than a public, broadcaster. One of the jobs of a public broadcaster is to hold the government to account, Morrison said in an interview. By contrast, the journalists of state broadcasters "simply read the government's press releases on air." Morrison testified before the Commons Finance Committee May 23 on yet another omnibus budget bill. Omnibus budget bills have become the "one size fits all" legislative tactic of the Harper Conservatives; further evidence of their penchant for arbitrary control. Bill C-60, the latest omnibus budget bill, turns Canada's national broadcaster into just another Crown agency like the Bank of Canada and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. From now on, the CBC will have a member of the government's Treasury Board sitting in on and approving the decisions and actions of its board. The CBC predicts that litigation could arise if Bill C-60 is not changed. Using a Treasury Board employee to influence collective agreements affecting the rights of journalists and producers means the government of the day will gradually be able to control - and eventually erase - the CBC's independence, Morrison warns. Canada's Broadcasting Act, the statutory basis for the CBC's independence, ensures free collective bargaining. Collective bargaining in turn ensures the working conditions that defend journalistic autonomy, Morrison says. “A journalist cannot be just pulled off a story without a reason; a producer has the right to refuse to produce something if for some reason they feel they're being pressured; there is a whole range of examples." " The Broadcasting Act's fundamental requirement that CBC must maintain an arm's length distance from government and be protected from possible governmental interference, as well as that the public should perceive that the CBC is independent, are not reflected in the Bill C-60 proposals," Morrison told the committee. "(T)here is a conflict between the carefully protected special status of the CBC under the Broadcasting Act, and the proposed provisions of the Financial Administration Act that seek to impose direct control by Treasury Board on all aspects of CBC's employment relations," he continued. The 1991 Broadcasting Act, passed by Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives, not only requires that its provisions "shall be interpreted and applied...to protect and enhance the freedom of expression and the journalistic, creative and programming independence enjoyed by the Corporation" but also specifically exempts the CBC from the level of government oversight and control applied to other Crown corporations. The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting asked Brian MacLeod Rogers, one of Canada's leading legal experts in broadcast law, to provide his opinion on the government's omnibus legislation. Rogers' conclusion, in a written opinion tabled at the committee, was that the government's new powers "could be used in future to shape, diminish and even threaten the CBC's role as the public broadcaster. The CBC's management and employees may find themselves affected in myriad and subtle ways in order to curry the government's favour or avoid its displeasure." NDP MP Murray Rankin asked Morrison to comment on a current high profile issue. "Let's say a CBC journalist is writing a story on the Senate scandal and the Treasury Board orders that journalist to be moved from full-time to part-time?" he asked. "Is that a possible scenario as a consequence of Bill C-60?" Replied Morrison: "I think it's a bit far-fetched, but it doesn't require that scenario to be accurate for all of the concerns I have expressed to be valid." In addition to Rogers' written testimony, Morrison's appeal was buttressed by a letter signed by 16 of Canada's leading journalists including Don Newman, Joe Schlesinger, Hugh Winsor, Paul Adams and Tony Burman as well as verbal testimony by Florian Sauvageau, lawyer and professor emeritus of journalism at Laval University. In an earlier appearance before the finance committee, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had rejected an opposition request to amend the budget bill to protect the CBC from political interference. "The CBC may think it's a special independent part of the Crown agency," he told the committee. "This is wrong. All Crown agencies have responsibilities through ministers back to parliament and through parliament to the people of Canada. They cannot do just whatever they want, particularly with taxpayers' money. The CBC receives a large amount of federal tax dollars every year and they must be accountable for it. And they can't just go off -- I'm not saying they do -- and pay their executives and everybody else whatever they want to pay them. It has to fit into the larger picture." Liberal MP Scott Brison warned Flaherty that some Canadians will see this "not just as accountability of the CBC but your ideological view of public broadcasting in Canada." Conservative MP Brian Jean probably best articulated the Conservative mindset on broadcasting in general and the CBC in particular. "I don't think I should have to pay for other people to watch something I don't want to." Frances Russell was born in Winnipeg and graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science. A journalist since 1962, she has covered and commented on politics in Manitoba, Ontario, B.C. and Ottawa, working for The Winnipeg Tribune, United Press International, The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun and The Winnipeg Free Press as well as freelanced for The Toronto Star, The Edmonton Journal, CBC Radio and TV and Time Magazine. She is the author of two award-winning books on Manitoba history: Mistehay Sakahegan - The Great Lake: The Beauty and the Treachery of Lake Winnipeg and The Canadian Crucible - Manitoba's Role in Canada's Great Divide. Both won the Manitoba Historical Society Award for popular history. She is married with one son and two grandsons and lives in Winnipeg.