Responding to recent demand from employees across the country to leave their jobs to enter politics, CBC/Radio-Canada has introduced a new sabbatical program that will allow them to take leaves of absence from their jobs to run for the Liberal Party of Canada or their provincial equivalents.

“This isn’t an endorsement of any political party, it’s simplifying a process that’s already happening so we can more efficiently process all the leave requests that come in just before an election campaign,” said CBC HR specialist Apryl Poisson. “Employees would of course be expected to completely disassociate from the CBC after publicly declaring themselves to be candidates, and if they lose their elections will be welcomed back as insider political analysts.”

Asked if the program could also be used for employees seeking to run for the Conservative Party, Poisson looked confused and stood frozen for about 10 minutes before saying that hypothetical situation had never come up.

AM talk radio broadcasters have had a “run for the Conservative Party” sabbatical program for several years now, citing people like Jamil Jivani and Greg Brady as success stories.