When the Reform party shook up Canadian politics in the 1990s, one of its proposals was to privatize CBC Television. In the three- or four-channel TV universe of the ’50s, it may have made sense to have a tax-funded corporation providing a full range of programming, from news to sports to comedy to variety. But even in the early ’90s, as today’s infinite-channel universe was beginning to take shape, there was no shortage of viewing options for Canadians and more than enough niches for original Canadian programming to fill without taxpayer assistance.
