Former CBC host Jo-Ann Roberts seeks federal Green Party nomination

Former CBC host Jo-Ann Roberts poses with Green Party party leader Elizabeth May in Victoria on Saturday Jan. 24, 2014. Roberts announced Saturday she is seeking the Green Party's nomination in Victoria for this year's federal election. (CP/Handout Jo-Ann Roberts campaign)

VICTORIA -- A former CBC radio host hopes to take her fight for the embattled public broadcaster all the way to Parliament Hill, as she seeks a federal nomination for the Green Party.

Jo-Ann Roberts announced Saturday with leader Elizabeth May at her side that she is seeking the party's nomination in Victoria for this year's federal election.

Roberts resigned after a decade hosting CBC Radio One's "All Points West" in December because she wanted to fight more openly for the public broadcaster's future.

"I left my job because I wanted to be able to speak out about the CBC, and what worries me about the future of the CBC if we don't start to address funding cuts and independence from government," she said in a phone interview Saturday.

"Once I stepped away from the microphone, I had a chance to reflect on what was it that I thought was most important at this point in my life."

The 58-year-old said the CBC was not the only issue that drove her to join politics. She said she was approached by both the Liberals and Greens, but she chose Elizabeth May's party because of her passion for environmental issues.

Roberts is originally from Prince Edward Island and had been with the CBC on and off since 1978. Before moving to British Columbia, she spent 10 years hosting CBC Radio's morning show in Moncton, N.B.

More than 1,000 jobs were cut at the public broadcaster last year as it continues to grapple with federal budget cuts and flagging advertising revenues. Roberts said morale was at the lowest she had seen in 20 years.

"I was beginning to believe that if the CBC is going to continue to exist as a vital part of our democracy, this election is critical. Quite literally, we can't take any more cuts," she said. "But I was not allowed as a host to say that."

She said she wants to see a $115-million federal funding cut to the CBC restored, as well as gather a Royal Commission or parliamentary committee to examine the public broadcaster's mandate, funding and governance models.

Roberts added eight of the 10 members of the CBC board are contributors to the Conservative Party, and the legislation setting out how board members are appointed must be reconsidered.

She is the first to seek nomination for the Green Party in Victoria, and if she wins, she will face incumbent Murray Rankin. The New Democrat MP won a 2012 by-election in a tight race against the Greens.

The NDP has also promised to reverse recent federal funding cuts to the CBC. But while Roberts praised her potential opponent as a "strong environmentalist," she said Rankin is limited by the constraints of his party.

"I'm in a position where I can vote with either the Liberals or the New Democrats on an issue like that. Murray is not."

As for environmental issues, Roberts said Prime Minister Stephen Harper is refusing to take action on the environment because of a misguided belief it will wreck the economy. She said she wants to promote renewable resources and reduce dependence on natural resources.

Roberts also said she is concerned about the state of democracy in Canada in general.

"I think, quite honestly, Stephen Harper is running this country on fear. It's time to replace that fear with hope, because that fear is changing the very essence of who we are as Canadians," she said.

"And I think if we're going to engage Canadians again in politics, we need to start having transparency and a diversity of voices and civic engagement. We just need to do politics differently."