In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

498 - LETTERS IN CANADA: 1965 Dr. Steacie's great success as an administrator was certainly- achieved without the sacrifice of any of the principles in which he believed. These principles are enumerated in " Science in Canada and their relevance to many of the problems which face the universities demcmstrated. BROADCASTING W . H. N. Hull I take as my text words from the speech of the former Secretary of State, the Honourable Maurice Lamontagne, to the Annual Convention of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters at Quebec City on April 6; 1964, quoted in E. A. Weir's The Struggle for National Broadcasting in Canada (McClelland & Stewart, pp. xvi, 477, $12.50): I am convinced that our cultural life needs both protection against impoverishment and stimulus to improvement, and that a deliberate effort to these ends, in which government must have a large role, is not only justified but is most urgently required. Government must insure Canadian ownership and control over our means of communication. But while the government must play a greater and most systematic role in these matters, its responsibility is not and should not be exclusive. Private interests must help. (p. 423) I have chosen to introduce this review with the sermon analogy because both books do to an extent preach to their readers and because both reveal an act of faith on the part of their authors and require one on the part of their readers. I have chosen the particular text because it bears out so well the theme of both works while at the same time pointing up the challenges of both. Mr. Weir's book must be regarded as a landmark in the writings on Canadian broadcasting. He has, for the first time, brought together a wealth of material drawn both from documentarv ·sources and from the ~xperience of nearly forty years .of personal in;olvement in Canadian broadcasting and has produced what so many other authors and royal commissioners have given us only in abbreviated form-a full-fledged history of national broadcasting in Canada. One may question or even regret his statements concerning the court cases of the order of events leading up to the decision of the Judicial Cominittee of the Privy Council in 1932 (p. 110); his suggestion; later corrected, that Newfoundland did not join Confederation until after ~954 (p. 363); his statements that the Department of Transport is the SOCIAL STUDIES 499 licensing authority (p. 368); his off-hand dismissal of suggestions of the Chairman of the Board of Broadcast Governors as being obviously unworkable "to any broadcaster, public or private" (p. 421) ; or his failure to outline an alternate means of appointing members to broadcasting authorities after he has denounced the present system as one which "should be long past" (p. 440). These and a few other points aside, however, Mr. Weir has done stellar service in producing this history of Canadian broadcasting. Undoubtedly, the book will not be accepted as final word on either the history or contemporary status of Canadian broadcasting. The private broadcasters will complain that their contributions have not been properly evaluated. The Board of Broadcast Governors will argue that, as Mr. Weir himself points ·out, broadcasting in Canada is a very complex business (p. 267) and that he has unfairly criticized the Board by looking at only one side of its problems. As a case in point, he may claim that the BBG has cast itself in the role of protector of the economic interests of the private broadcasters. The Board, on the other hand, may ask whether Parliament established it in order to force the private stations into bankruptcy. If such was Parliament's intention, then Parliament should have stated this much more clearly. The more objective reader may wonder if a degree of bias has not crept into Mr. W eir's interpretation of certain events. The policy which saw the CBC develop its television facilities in the six major Canadian centres before the private interests were allowed in-a policy which Mr. Weir obviously regards as an unwarranted restriction upon the CBC-was described to me by one of the ministers responsible for the enunciation of that policy as one which...

pdf

Share