Election Day Minus -14, CBC magnanimous with Free-time, but......

Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Good advice if you ever need help from someone offering it. So when the CBC offered 2 minutes of free-time to broadcast the Libertarian message, we jumped and accepted the offer. CBC is not required to give free time, but they felt its part of their mandate. They want to"support the democratic process". I guess that's admirable? In our position, here is 2 minutes on the Ontario-wide network, and we have 51 candidates scattered around the province. Could we afford to say no? Of course not.

There is the issue that the CBC is a publicly funded broadcaster, but as taxpayers, we are coerced into paying for this service too, why not make the best of it. So, a quick poll of the executive, and I was chosen to do this.

It's surprisingly difficult to get a clear message across given 2 minutes on television. I have a learned great deal respect for advertisers, hucksters, etc. Anyone that can sell an idea in 2 minutes deserves whatever they are paid. But I crafted a message with the help of my daughter, a former CBC journalist. So, here is 2 minutes that should make sense. 

Take a moment and imagine getting notification that you, and every member of your family, owed $21,000.That’s 84,000 for a family of four.That is the debt the Government of Ontario will have accumulated on your behalf by the end of this fiscal year.That debt has doubled since Dalton McGuinty took office just 8 years ago… because spending has doubled.
So. Is the government twice as effective? Is health care better? Has education improved? Has traffic improved? Where did all this money go?
Everyone understands that competition improves prices and service… whereas monopolies result in higher costs and lower quality.Only governments allow monopolies. Take these examples.Consider why your electricity bill has gone up. No competition.Consider the high cost of liquor, beer, and wine. No competition.How about the long wait times for health care? No competition.Libertarians would allow for real competition in all these areas – and others:Producing electricity that would lower your hydro bill.Removing the government monopoly on the sale of liquor, beer, and wine.Allowing for a competitive health care system, resulting in better and faster care.Libertarians understand that competition leads to less government spending… which will ultimately reduce the debt. And as we watch the news unfold, day-by-day… we’ve all seen just how devastating debt can be.Make a historic choice - choose Libertarian.I’m Allen Small the Libertarian candidate for Markham-Unionville.To find out more, go to Libertarian dot O-N dot C-A.This message was authorized by the CFO for the Ontario Libertarian Party.

I went down to CBC HQ, the other day to record that, and it went very well I think. The only problem is, will you or anyone get to see it? You see, this will be broadcast at 1 a.m. on the night of Thursday Sept. 29th. In fact the times for other parties are also similarly very late on other nights. The PC's decided to forfeit their time, why bother going to the trouble, if no one will be watching? The audio portion of my appearance will be broadcast on CBC Radio on Sat. Sept. 25th between 7 and 8 a.m., better, I guess.

I hope to stay awake and record it, so may some night owl Libertarians, but of course that will be preaching to the converted. Oh well.