All CPAC, all the time!

Posted on: Thursday, May 5, 2005
Posted at: 3:55 PM

In 1977, a motion was approved and adopted by the Canadian House of Commons to broadcast, via television, its proceedings.

For the 2 years that followed, coverage of the Canadian House of Commons was provided on a tape delay basis only.

In 1979, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) began live coverage of the proceedings of the Canadian House of Commons.

The CBC Parliamentary Service was created 1 year later.

Between 1989 and 1992, the CBC and a number of cable companies lobbied for the creation of a Canadian Parliamentary Channel to provide coverage of the proceedings of the House of Commons, as well as other balanced and unbiased governmental coverage and political programming.

It was not until 1992 that it became clear that the CBC would not be able to continue its mandate of coverage of the proceedings of the Canadian House of Commons.

By 1993, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) agreed to allow the creation of the Canadian Parliamentary Channel.

Not long after being granted a license, the Canadian Parliamentary Channel changed its name to the Cable Public Affairs Channel.

And with that, CPAC was truly born.

Today, CPAC provides live coverage of the proceedings of the Canadian House of Commons in both official languages.

It is worth noting that CPAC receives no government funding, and is it not affiliated with any government department or agency.

CPAC provides additional live and/or taped coverage of other parliamentary activities, such as the various standing committees, commissions, inquiries, and hearings.

CPAC expanded its coverage to include provincial and territorial legislatures across Canada.

CPAC occasionally airs programming from BBC Parliament, C-SPAN, etc.

Each and every country would do well to have such a channel.

Not only do I get to see my Member of Parliament (Député), or my Member of Provincial Parliament (Député Actuel), hard at work…

But I also rely less on news sources for governmental activities, which are – more often than not – reported incompletely, incorrectly, or misleadingly.

Nana always said that it is better to hear it from the [proverbial] horse’s mouth.

And there is a substantial entertainment value to CPAC — reality television at its finest!

2005-05-05  »  somecanuckchick