Recently, MP James Moore, also Minister of Heritage, floated the idea of cutting funding to the CBC by about $100 million. In effect this would seriously dismantle the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. as we know it.

It also goes completely against his statement of May 3, 2011, just after the last election. He said: "We believe in the national public broadcaster. We have said that we will maintain or increase support for the CBC. That is our platform and we have said that before and we will commit to that."

The threats to the CBC come not because of the European debt crisis, or because of domestic needs for fiscal conservatism.

Rather, they are derived from a virulent strain of Puritanism in the Conservative party. The famous German sociologist Max Weber explained over a century ago that Puritanism is "suspicious and even hostile to the aspects of culture without any religious value." He added that "the toleration of pleasure in cultural goods . ran up against one characteristic limitation: they must not cost anything."

In other words, the threats to the CBC come not from politics, or economics, but religion.

Should we prostrate ourselves before Conservative party Puritanism - and allow MP Moore to advance Canada as a cultural wasteland?

Joerge Dyrkton Anmore