Dear Jim,

Please listen to this 82 second voicemail.

In this recording, Joyce Bateman, MP for Winnipeg South Centre denies that Stephen Harper’s government has cut funding to the CBC!

A FRIENDS supporter who received this message from her MP has given me permission to share it with you.

With your help, we will put Bateman’s own words on the air in a major radio ad campaign in Winnipeg, and also in swing ridings across the country where the outcome of the next election will be determined. 

It’s an ambitious plan that will cost $50,000 but I am certain it will be worth every penny.

This is an opportunity to mobilize public opinion to hold the Harper Conservatives accountable for the damage they have done to our national public broadcaster – in places where it counts.

Bateman’s blatant denial of the facts will help us to focus voter attention on the impact of Stephen Harper’s hostile, surreptitious and politically motivated attack on our CBC.

Please join me in giving generously to help finance this special campaign.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Morrison
Spokesperson
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting

P.S. Please circulate this message to your friends and networks.

P.P.S.  Here is a chart which shows the purchasing power in current 2014 dollars of the federal government’s annual grant to the CBC since 1990.

You can view a larger version of this graph here.