Why the TVO strike doesn't matter

And why Steve Paikin should stop pretending it should

In a recent Twitter exchange, Steven Paikin claimed the TVO strike matters and I disagreed.

The now 70-day old strike is over a demand for a pay raise of about 15% over the contract life and a payment of $2,500 to each employee. The parties are apparently only $300,000 apart. Paikin, like TVO, blames Ford for the impasse. He is silent about the $17 million TVO has reportedly socked away in financial products.

I was a big fan of The Agenda hosted by Steve Paikin on TVO. He is a great host, always well-prepared and respectful of his guests and the audience. But no one who watches TVO is surprised that Paikin’s bias is left of center. It is plain and obvious that he leans left and that is his right and privilege in our society.

TVO pretends it is a charity and in every episode pleas for more donations from “people like you” in the audience, but TVO’s main source of funding is ~$49 million in the form of a grant or grants from the Ontario government. Criticizing a Conservative Premier and his government for not caving in to the demands of a few dozen TVO employees who chose to strike for more pay and benefits is not a wise course for TVO or Paikin whose program promotes socialist rather than conservative values. Poke the bear once and you might get a growl, keep it up and you get eaten.

TVO reportedly (from its own website) employs less than 500 people and Paikin’s tweet to me refers to 74 employees who he says are “suffering”. A $49 million grant for 500 employees (or less) is almost $100,000 per employee and $17 million in financial products comprises another $34,000. TVO’s 2022-2023 audited financial statements show cash and short term investments of ~$29 million. This is hardly a case of hardship and makes laughable any claim that government should provide more money.

Ontario taxpayers have no legitimate reason to fund TVO. Funding for the TVO by government was an initiative fifty years ago of then Education Minister Bill Davis who went on to become premier of Ontario. He was a great premier and TVO’s early days made a robust contribution to informed debate on social issues in the province.

Today, that is less the case. I watch the program regularly on YouTube and listen to the carefully selected “expert” guests typically promote progressive ideas and values with a token member of the panel a more right wing person from time to time. The show almost always promotes the idea that citizens should look to government for money for every need, from health care to education to housing to pensions without much time spent discussing the reality that government doesn’t have or create money - it raises it through taxes and borrowing. Canadian taxes are already at nosebleed levels and Canada’s total debt load - federal, provincial and household - is close to the breaking point. Continuing to look to government to fund every leftist fad and pretend individuals don’t have to live within their means or take responsibility for their own needs does not have a happy ending.

If I thought TVO was objective, balanced and fair I would have happily donated to the “charity” but I don’t. I think it, like the CBC, is a leftist medium doing damage to Canada. If TVO is to survive, it needs to rebuild its tarnished reputation as “fair and balanced” and make sure its productions and in particular The Agenda don’t fall into the habit of putting ideology ahead of reporting and balance debate. I don’t see that happening.

If I were Ford, I will just stop funding TVO in its entirety and sever the employees with a generous package and assistance in finding employment elsewhere. The $49 million could be directed at real problems like homelessness. It is about time the Ford government acted like the money it spends belongs to the taxpayers who provide it and cancel every pet project of which TVO is certainly one.