Re: Saving the Ceeb

In response to Saving the Ceeb, published March, 4, 2009.

Devin Morrow is wrong about the CBC being essential to Canada’s identity (issue 22). Our identity can still live on without the CBC, but pundits like Morrow argue that the only way to maintain our identity is by using more taxpayer money. Collectivism and patriotism are easily separable, and if we assume they aren’t, then we are putting our own individual rights at stake. Individuals should be free to pursue happiness with their incomes. When the incomes of individuals get taken out of their pockets by the federal government for patriotic purposes, individual freedom becomes worthless. Our freedom to pursue happiness and our responsibility to teach our children are both inseparable. Unfortunately, the responsibility of educating future generations about the importance of Canadian culture has become a burden for many Canadians, so they rely on a “greater good” mentality to achieve their best intentions. The greater good mentality means that the decisions individuals are supposed to make for themselves, such as deciding whether or not a TV show deserves to be on the air, are instead made by the federal government through the use of taxpayer dollars.
The issue here is not culture. The issue here is that our government is making decisions that individuals should be making for themselves. If criticizing government policy makes me un-Canadian, then I can see why some would want to leave this country. I will not support a Canadian identity that is based on bureaucracy and limited freedom for the individual.

– Zach Samborski

Published in Volume 63, Number 23 of The Uniter (March 12, 2009)