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It is unfortunate that we had to have something like this occur for Canada to realize that perhaps large, all-encompassing corporations are a bad idea. Even now, most Canadians are still ignorant of this. With such absolute control over such an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of media sources, it is not surprising that it would begin to be abused in one way or another. However, there is a bit of hope. Depsite Mr. Asper's disproportionate share of what goes into our heads, Canadians have stood firm and refused to bend their minds to his will. Otherwise, we would have been stuck with a Conservative majority in this last election, and American-style slash-and-burn and love-the-rich politics would have reigned supreme.
Perhaps this is due to Asper's main competition and worst enemy, the CBC, which has committed itself to presenting a diverse variety of viewpoints, and with an adequate leftist Canadian slant to cancel out, if not defeat, Mr. Asper's brand of vitriolic fascism.
If we are to take back the media, and return it to the old ideals of 'by the people, for the people', and fulfill the mandate of the Media Carta, I suppose we must take aim at Asper's media empire and have our government either revoke CanWest's charter. More realistically, we should have our government introduce legislation that prevents one corporation from owning more than 5% of media sources and includes websites, newspapers, magazines, television channels, and radio stations.
Perhaps we should suggest this to Mr. Layton as one of his demands to the Liberal minority, which gravely needs NDP support to continue governing. This is how you exercise public power - by holding it over the rulers' heads.
, Simcoe, Ontario
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