Holder campaigns to save A London TELEVISION
The MP will deliver mail to the regulator
By KATHY RUMLESKI, FREE PRESS REPORTER

Ed Holder has put Canada Post on notice.

The London West Conservative MP believes he'll need several large mailbags to deal with the onslaught of correspondence he's receiving about the woes at the A London TV station. The station lost its morning show last week, and with it, jobs.

Holder said he'll deliver in person the mail he's receiving for the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the broadcast regulator.

CRTC officers could face the kind of deluge seen in the movie Miracle on 34th Street when Santa's mail is delivered to a courtroom.

"I want to send a message to the CRTC," Holder said. "I'm asking Londoners to save A. We're going to have a pretty significant response."

He's heard from at least 100 people who say the station is a vital part of the community.

"It's a huge response in a short time. It speaks to the concern Londoners feel. They feel very personal about local content and that's what this is all about," he said.

Holder said his position is the local stations must survive.

CTV, which owns the A-branded stations, has said it will close its Wingham and Windsor stations in August. That, coupled with the cancellation of the A morning show, means 48 people, most in London, will be out of work -- and the losses may not be over.

One A London employee, speaking anonymously, said, "I don't think anybody in that building is safe."

Holder said people must respond quickly.

He's asking supporters to send an e-mail or drop off or mail a letter to his constituency office rather than contact him by phone.

"Phone calls are harder to quantify in the sense I want to put a visual in front of (the CRTC)," Holder said.

He also asks the letters be addressed to the commission.

Holder's address is 390 Commissioners Rd. W., London, N6J 1Y3. His e-mail address is Holder.E@parl.gc.ca.

Holder also plans to make federal finance and industry ministers aware of his actions.

"The reaction I've had from Londoners so far is sufficient . . . to say, 'We have to try.' "