Submitted to Social Canada by

Breezy Brian Gregg

The Edmonton Chapter of the Council of Canadians passed a motion May 13, 2020. The motion was for the Chapter to publicly support “No Commercial Media Day October 9th” and for the Chapter to submit a resolution to the Council of Canadians Annual Members’ Meeting. Below is the resolution we submitted.

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Whereas, it is so undemocratic to be relying on accessing information from private for-profit services that thrive on selling access to our attention; 

Whereas, the unfair result is that the most wealthy people in society use that purchased privilege to influence peoples commercial and political choices; 

Whereas, the commercial communications system has a built in advantage for the already advantaged;

Whereas, this is a bold but totally peaceful way to disrupt and to make a point that our governments need to strengthen nonprofit public media;

Whereas, this action is totally doable while physically distancing; and

Whereas, making a public statement of support for — No Commercial Media Day October 9 — should take next to nothing away from the energy the Council puts towards its priorities and in fact participating may help The Council’s progress, 

Be it resolved that the Council of Canadians make a public statement of support for “no commercial media day October 9th” and that the statement should include the following:

“No Commercial Media Day October 9th”

— To bring attention to the need to strengthen nonprofit public media services in Canada, The Council of Canadians is asking all Canadians to abstain from using commercial media on October 9th. Turn it off for 24 hours. For safety and practical reasons total abstinence may be difficult. Everyone is encouraged to just do their best and in this way show that Canadians want strong nonprofit public media services — 

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