Since it was formed in the mid-1930s, the CBC had been the regulatory body for broadcasting in Canada, as well as a publicly-funded broadcaster. In 1933, Parliament had decided to nationalize Canadian radio, in the British model where it was "All BBC, All the Time". It took them a dozen years before finding the money they thought was required to get the job done.
By 1945, there was a growing wave of protest against the nationalization of Canadian Radio. But it only served to strengthen the government's resolve. By the beginning of the 1950s, everyone knew that Television was on its way to becoming bigger than Radio. And the government realized that it couldn't afford to "do it alone", so licensed private stations.
John Diefenbaker finally killed the concept of nationalization with the Broadcasting Act of November 10, 1958. The CBC lost its regulatory powers and the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG) was formed. The previous July, Davey Dunton quit, taking the helm at Carleton University in Ottawa. His CCF bio can be found at http://broadcasting-history.ca/personal ... n-davidson
