SHORT TAKES : Cuts Hit Canada Broadcasting

The voice of Canada will be fainter at home and overseas following cutbacks by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. announced Thursday.

The state-owned radio and television network, long respected as a distinctly Canadian source of news and culture in a huge country deluged with American broadcasting, axed about 460 jobs and a regional television program.

The cuts, part of belt-tightening by the Conservative government, are aimed at saving $118 million over four years. The corporation’s budget is $1.13 billion in 1990.

The economies will badly affect Canada’s voice to the world, Radio Canada International, which will close most operations in its Ottawa bureau on June 30. The international network broadcasts to as many as 10 million people in 13 languages on the shortwave band and operates on a total budget of $11.8 million.