No one can say they didn't see it coming. The writing has been on the wall at the CBC for quite some time.
Last Thursday, state broadcaster CEO Hubert Lacroix announced 657 positions were being cut.
For a long time, the network was known as the place for hockey, The Simpsons reruns and Coronation Street. And this is a public broadcaster?!
Their existential crisis isn't just starting -- they lost their way years ago.
The loss of hockey is only going to compound the challenges.
Read the full story.
CBC needs radical surgery to survive
The future of the CBC is one of those discussions that both unites and divides Canadians: we love to argue about it, but never reach a conclusion. Over the years it has become distilled enough that it can be debated in shorthand, reduced as it is to a few pointed questions: Should the CBC continue to exist, or not?
The suggestions are many. Turn it into a northern version of the United States’ PBS, forever holding on-air telethons begging for donations. Transform it into a subscription service peddling its wares to cable and satellite customers. End subsidies to commercial broadcasters and give them to the CBC while banning it from selling ads. Slash the budget further and focus on those few remote regions that are unable to pick up other services.
Read the full story.
The suggestions are many. Turn it into a northern version of the United States’ PBS, forever holding on-air telethons begging for donations. Transform it into a subscription service peddling its wares to cable and satellite customers. End subsidies to commercial broadcasters and give them to the CBC while banning it from selling ads. Slash the budget further and focus on those few remote regions that are unable to pick up other services.
Read the full story.
Hubert Lacroix suggests new CBC tax
The head of the CBC is floating the idea of taking a percentage of every cable or satellite bill in Canada as a way to get the state broadcaster more money.
The comments came during a town hall meeting last week where CBC president Hubert Lacroix was discussing plans for 657 job cuts and changes in the wake of CBC’s loss of NHL hockey broadcasts.
During a question and answer session, Lacroix suggested a CBC tax similar to that in Britain. The BBC is funded through a fee on every television in Britain, and in Lacroix’s mind that money should come from cable and satellite companies, known in the industry as BDUs.
Heritage Minister Shelley Glover’s office threw cold water on the concept.
“The CBC already receives significant taxpayer funds. They can operate within their existing budget,” Marisa Monnin said. “According to the CBC, it is declining viewership that is causing their challenges. It is up to the CBC to provide programming that Canadians actually want to watch.”
Read the full story.
The comments came during a town hall meeting last week where CBC president Hubert Lacroix was discussing plans for 657 job cuts and changes in the wake of CBC’s loss of NHL hockey broadcasts.
During a question and answer session, Lacroix suggested a CBC tax similar to that in Britain. The BBC is funded through a fee on every television in Britain, and in Lacroix’s mind that money should come from cable and satellite companies, known in the industry as BDUs.
Heritage Minister Shelley Glover’s office threw cold water on the concept.
“The CBC already receives significant taxpayer funds. They can operate within their existing budget,” Marisa Monnin said. “According to the CBC, it is declining viewership that is causing their challenges. It is up to the CBC to provide programming that Canadians actually want to watch.”
Read the full story.
Dr Frans Leenen wins Libel Lawsuit against Fifth Estate
Try swallowing a damages award of $950,000 and a costs award over $800,000 as the CBC had to in the libel lawsuit brought by Dr. Frans Leenan.
After winning his case in Ontario’s Superior Court, Dr. Leenen said, ‘Four years ago we proposed to settle this law suit for $10,000 and an on-air apology. It was refused…The Fifth Estate persisted and took me through 10 weeks of trial.’
The trial judge awarded very high damages for libel against The Fifth Estate and the CBC as well as individual reporters and producers. The CBC appealed. Ontario’s Court of Appeal disagreed with the CBC, and ruled that Dr. Leenen had been libelled. Finally, the CBC tried to take the case to Canada’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Supreme Court ruled against the CBC in February, with yet another costs award. Dr. Leenen’s long legal journey is over. The case should be a lesson for documentary producers and journalists everywhere.
Read the full story.
After winning his case in Ontario’s Superior Court, Dr. Leenen said, ‘Four years ago we proposed to settle this law suit for $10,000 and an on-air apology. It was refused…The Fifth Estate persisted and took me through 10 weeks of trial.’
The trial judge awarded very high damages for libel against The Fifth Estate and the CBC as well as individual reporters and producers. The CBC appealed. Ontario’s Court of Appeal disagreed with the CBC, and ruled that Dr. Leenen had been libelled. Finally, the CBC tried to take the case to Canada’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Supreme Court ruled against the CBC in February, with yet another costs award. Dr. Leenen’s long legal journey is over. The case should be a lesson for documentary producers and journalists everywhere.
Read the full story.
Open Letter to CBC's Peter Mansbridge
Dear Peter Mansbridge:
I couldn’t sleep last night. And it is your fault.
The last thing I watched before I went to bed was The National’s new health panel. And it left me we a deep feeling of despair. I couldn’t shake the sensation that we are slipping into some kind of bizarre all-knowledge-is-relative Dark Age.
The panel has three “experts”, including the terrific and science-based Danielle Martin and Ali Zentner. The third is Bryce Wylde, a self-described homeopathic doctor (he has a diploma from the Ontario College of Homeopathic Medicine) and advocate for, among a host of other scientifically unproven therapies, “natural health” and supplementation.
Now, I don’t know Wylde. He seems like a nice, engaging individual – particularly when he is on Dr. Oz talking about how he “travels the globe in search of Mother Nature’s fountain of youth”. He does th is with a mixture of scientific-sounding babble (“vasodilate blood to the brain”?) and everything-natural-is-good boyish enthusiasm. He is, no doubt about it, entertaining.
But including an advocate of homeopathic medicine – one of the most derided and scientifically preposterous of alternative therapies – on a national and highly respected TV news program as a “medical expert” and legitimate source of evidence-based health information is simply wrong. He wasn’t presented as an outsider. His views were not cast as extreme and scientifically questionable. And this was not Dr. Oz, Oprah or an infomercial.
The CBC decision is particularly frustrating given that there are so many wonderful, science-based health scholars in Canada, including many who explore the issues associated with and evidence surrounding alternative therapies (such as Drs. Heather Boon at the University of Toronto and Sunita Vohra at the University of Alberta).
Read the full letter.
I couldn’t sleep last night. And it is your fault.
The last thing I watched before I went to bed was The National’s new health panel. And it left me we a deep feeling of despair. I couldn’t shake the sensation that we are slipping into some kind of bizarre all-knowledge-is-relative Dark Age.
The panel has three “experts”, including the terrific and science-based Danielle Martin and Ali Zentner. The third is Bryce Wylde, a self-described homeopathic doctor (he has a diploma from the Ontario College of Homeopathic Medicine) and advocate for, among a host of other scientifically unproven therapies, “natural health” and supplementation.
Now, I don’t know Wylde. He seems like a nice, engaging individual – particularly when he is on Dr. Oz talking about how he “travels the globe in search of Mother Nature’s fountain of youth”. He does th is with a mixture of scientific-sounding babble (“vasodilate blood to the brain”?) and everything-natural-is-good boyish enthusiasm. He is, no doubt about it, entertaining.
But including an advocate of homeopathic medicine – one of the most derided and scientifically preposterous of alternative therapies – on a national and highly respected TV news program as a “medical expert” and legitimate source of evidence-based health information is simply wrong. He wasn’t presented as an outsider. His views were not cast as extreme and scientifically questionable. And this was not Dr. Oz, Oprah or an infomercial.
The CBC decision is particularly frustrating given that there are so many wonderful, science-based health scholars in Canada, including many who explore the issues associated with and evidence surrounding alternative therapies (such as Drs. Heather Boon at the University of Toronto and Sunita Vohra at the University of Alberta).
Read the full letter.
CBC loses primary cash cow, cuts 657 jobs
CBC/Radio-Canada will cut 657 full-time positions to confront a $130-million budgetary shortfall for the 2014-15 broadcast year, stemming from the loss of hockey and lower than expected ratings for its current television season. It will also alter its approach to sports coverage.
“As of today, CBC and Radio Canada is out of the business of competing with the private (broadcasters) for professional sports,” Hubert Lacroix, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, said Thursday in a corporate-wide town hall with employees.
Last November, CBC also lost its primary cash cow when Rogers Media nabbed the rights to NHL games for the next 12 seasons. Under a sub-licence deal with Rogers, CBC will continue to air Saturday night hockey on its main network. But while it will not pay anything for rights to that programming – more than 300 hours over the course of the season and the Stanley Cup playoffs – it is footing the bill for some of the production costs, including staff time.
Read the full story.
“As of today, CBC and Radio Canada is out of the business of competing with the private (broadcasters) for professional sports,” Hubert Lacroix, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, said Thursday in a corporate-wide town hall with employees.
Read the full story.
Hubert Lacroix could announce 600 layoffs
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation could be facing layoffs in the range of 600 positions as it grapples with a financial shortfall of $130-million to $150-million, according to a lobby group that watches the national broadcaster closely.
The CBC will hold an all-employee meeting Thursday and Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said Wednesday specific details of the announcement “remain fluid” but that he expects it to be in line with those numbers based on conversations with multiple senior-level sources inside the broadcaster.
The lobby group predicted the sports division “will be gutted” and that cuts will affect both English and French services with the English division likely to be hit about twice as hard.
Read the full story.
The CBC will hold an all-employee meeting Thursday and Ian Morrison, spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said Wednesday specific details of the announcement “remain fluid” but that he expects it to be in line with those numbers based on conversations with multiple senior-level sources inside the broadcaster.
The lobby group predicted the sports division “will be gutted” and that cuts will affect both English and French services with the English division likely to be hit about twice as hard.
Read the full story.
Interesting CBC Facts
This report is something I saw that I found very interesting. I hope you will as well. Why do we give the CBC over $1 Billion of our tax dollars EVERY year?
These are excerpts from a statistical profile of CBC/Radio-Canada. Based on data released by the CRTC for the 2010 and 2011 broadcast fiscal years, and data released by CBC/Radio-Canada
In the 50 years since 1962, the Parliamentary operating appropriations actually received by CBC/Radio-Canada totaled $31.4 billion. Using 1962 as the base year, the total amount by which the CBC/Radio-Canada Parliamentary operating appropriations exceeded inflation from 1963 to 2012 was $16.9 billion.
when spending on sports is excluded, private conventional television broadcasters spend more on Canadian programs than does CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC English conventional television got 57.7 per cent of its total viewing from sports and foreign programs, with the entire balance of the schedule accounting for only 42.3 per cent of its viewing.
Across conventional television, private conventional TV delivers higher viewing to Canadian programs than does CBC/Radio-Canada conventional TV.
The 1974 CRTC hearings on CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewals led to the elimination of commercials on CBC/Radio Canada radio services. They also saw an interesting exchange between CRTC Chairman Pierre Juneau and CBC/Radio Canada President Laurent Picard, during a discussion about CBC English
conventional television. As reported in The Toronto Star:
Prepared for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters October 5, 2012
Read the full report here.
These are excerpts from a statistical profile of CBC/Radio-Canada. Based on data released by the CRTC for the 2010 and 2011 broadcast fiscal years, and data released by CBC/Radio-Canada
The 1974 CRTC hearings on CBC/Radio-Canada licence renewals led to the elimination of commercials on CBC/Radio Canada radio services. They also saw an interesting exchange between CRTC Chairman Pierre Juneau and CBC/Radio Canada President Laurent Picard, during a discussion about CBC English
conventional television. As reported in The Toronto Star:
- This was the point at which Juneau crossed Picard’s path. If the CBC did not now exist, would Picard recommend that it be created in its present form? For the first time, Picard paused. “No,” he answered, “I would recommend that it be created as a purely public network".
Prepared for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters October 5, 2012
Read the full report here.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix to announce deep cuts
The face of Canada’s national broadcaster sans hockey will begin to come into focus this Thursday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation plans to hold an all-employee meeting to discuss its financial future and layoffs are expected, with deep cuts in the sports division likely.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix, is set to address a town hall meeting of all CBC and Radio-Canada employees on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. and Heather Conway and Louis Lalande, executive vice-presidents of English- and French-language services, respectively, will join him.
“The focus of that meeting will be about our financial pressures and how we’re going to go forward,” spokesman Chuck Thompson said Monday, adding that the loss of Hockey Night in Canada is one of the pressures facing the broadcaster but that he could not go into further detail.
Read the full story.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation plans to hold an all-employee meeting to discuss its financial future and layoffs are expected, with deep cuts in the sports division likely.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix, is set to address a town hall meeting of all CBC and Radio-Canada employees on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. and Heather Conway and Louis Lalande, executive vice-presidents of English- and French-language services, respectively, will join him.
“The focus of that meeting will be about our financial pressures and how we’re going to go forward,” spokesman Chuck Thompson said Monday, adding that the loss of Hockey Night in Canada is one of the pressures facing the broadcaster but that he could not go into further detail.
Read the full story.
The CBC's $100,000 club
Go big or go home. That's the theory behind petitions presented by Conservative MPs calling for either the end of government funding for the CBC or the sale of the broadcaster.
Conservative MPs Colin Carrie and Brian Jean have called for the government to stop giving public funding to the CBC, while Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant has asked for its sale, according to to iPolitics.
"Government of Canada funds the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to the sum of $1.1 billion per annum, that vast amount of Government of Canada funding gives the CBC an unfair advantage over its private sector competitor," Jean said, according to Canoe.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that about 730 CBC employees are paid more than $100,000 a year.
The salary info was released by Heritage Minister James Moore in response to order paper questions submitted by Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber. Under parliamentary rules, the government is obligated to give a response in the House to such requests within 45 days.
Rathegeber had asked for the salary info for top CBC personalities, Peter Mansbridge and George Stroumboulopoulos, but Moore declined to provide those details, citing privacy laws.
Read the full story.
Conservative MPs Colin Carrie and Brian Jean have called for the government to stop giving public funding to the CBC, while Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant has asked for its sale, according to to iPolitics.
"Government of Canada funds the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to the sum of $1.1 billion per annum, that vast amount of Government of Canada funding gives the CBC an unfair advantage over its private sector competitor," Jean said, according to Canoe.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that about 730 CBC employees are paid more than $100,000 a year.
The salary info was released by Heritage Minister James Moore in response to order paper questions submitted by Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber. Under parliamentary rules, the government is obligated to give a response in the House to such requests within 45 days.
Rathegeber had asked for the salary info for top CBC personalities, Peter Mansbridge and George Stroumboulopoulos, but Moore declined to provide those details, citing privacy laws.
Read the full story.
CBC practices selective journalism
Letter to CBC Exposed:
1) Why does the left-wing CBC pick and choose its stories so deceptively? To further its narrative. The left-wing CBC chose to re-publish this Canadian Press story:
1) Why does the left-wing CBC pick and choose its stories so deceptively? To further its narrative. The left-wing CBC chose to re-publish this Canadian Press story:
Exclusive super-rich club getting richer
But not this one:
Despite pension changes public servant still overpaid: report
Why? Because one story reveals the corruption of overpaid taxpayer-funded public employees, which the CBC protects; and the other reveals the wealth of Canada;s "86 richest families", a group the CBC and its socialist allies vilify. I request the ombudsman investigate why the left-wing CBC republishes articles attacking the private sector, but ignores articles exposing the public sector. This is deceitful.
2) Furthermore, the left-wing CBC removed any indication that the report was prepared by a "left-wing" think tank. Here is the original text:
OTTAWA - While politicians in Ottawa still can't decide who is in the middle class, a new analysis suggests wealth is increasingly gravitating to the very top.The report by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that the country's 86 richest individuals and families — or 0.002 per cent of the total population — are getting exponentially richer and now have accumulated as much wealth as the country's poorest 11.4 million.
Here is how the left-wing CBC presented the story:
While politicians in Ottawa still can't decide who is in the middle class, a new analysis suggests wealth is increasingly gravitating to the very top.The report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that the country's 86 richest individuals and families — or 0.0002 per cent of the total population — are getting exponentially richer and now have accumulated as much wealth as the country's poorest 11.4 million.
Any reference to 'the Canadian Press' should be removed from the left-wing CBC's story. This is not the Canadian press's story; it has been changed to suit the biased narrative of the left-wing CBC, which removed information from the original report. It is a CBC story; misinforming its readers with whatever deception the left-wing biased CBC chooses.
I request the institutionalized bias of the left-wing CBC, as evidenced in points #1 and #2 above be investigated by its ombudsman. Whoever decides on these stories is furthering an agenda; the editor is very selective. Please reply.
Jon
Impossible to hold the CBC to account
A former top executive with Canada’s public broadcaster says the organization’s strategy is “completely incoherent,” a result of a lack of focus in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s mandate.
The lack of focus means it’s impossible to hold the CBC to account, said Richard Stursberg, former head of CBC English broadcasting.
“It tries to do a little of this, a little of that to try and satisfy all these different constituencies … its strategy is ultimately, completely incoherent,” Stursberg told a Senate committee Tuesday. “You can’t hold the CBC to account when there’s no consensus on what it’s trying to do.”
Read the full story.
The lack of focus means it’s impossible to hold the CBC to account, said Richard Stursberg, former head of CBC English broadcasting.
“It tries to do a little of this, a little of that to try and satisfy all these different constituencies … its strategy is ultimately, completely incoherent,” Stursberg told a Senate committee Tuesday. “You can’t hold the CBC to account when there’s no consensus on what it’s trying to do.”
Read the full story.
CBC is meddling within the market
The online success of the CBC should be laudable. Its website received an average of 6.2-million unique visitors last year, making it the most popular Canadian website. Around 4.3-million people visit the CBC News site each month, besting both The Globe and Mail and Huffington Post.
In doing so, the CBC has strayed a long way from its original purpose: to sustain Canadian culture when and where the market cannot. The problem is, the CBC’s traditional funding model now allows it to build its digital empire unfettered by economic reality.
The CBC is increasingly no longer complementing the market, but instead meddling within it.
It amounts to unintended government-funded intervention where it is either unneeded or destructive. As the traditional broadcasting model has become antiquated, so too has the CBC’s financing model.
Read the full story.
In doing so, the CBC has strayed a long way from its original purpose: to sustain Canadian culture when and where the market cannot. The problem is, the CBC’s traditional funding model now allows it to build its digital empire unfettered by economic reality.
The CBC is increasingly no longer complementing the market, but instead meddling within it.
It amounts to unintended government-funded intervention where it is either unneeded or destructive. As the traditional broadcasting model has become antiquated, so too has the CBC’s financing model.
Read the full story.
CBC harasses employees
You may pay the bill for harassment complaints filed against the CBC by their employees, but the state broadcaster has decided taxpayers don`t need to know how much money is being used to settle these complaints.
A request filed through the Access to Information system seeking the amount of money CBC paid out for harassment claims in the first six months of this year returned several pages of invoices - some completely blank - but no details on what was paid out.
According to the files released on harassment, management at the state broadcaster settled at least one complaint for psychological harassment filed with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The CBC claimed that the amount paid to settle the claim was confidential.
Read the full story.
A request filed through the Access to Information system seeking the amount of money CBC paid out for harassment claims in the first six months of this year returned several pages of invoices - some completely blank - but no details on what was paid out.
According to the files released on harassment, management at the state broadcaster settled at least one complaint for psychological harassment filed with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
The CBC claimed that the amount paid to settle the claim was confidential.
Read the full story.
CBC uses YOUR tax dollars to compete unfairly
The CBC supposedly exists to tell Canadians their story in ways for-profit networks would not. But the state broadcaster is anything but an old-style, non-commercial public radio and television company. Its tentacles now extend everywhere in the media universe except perhaps print, and it uses its huge public subsidy to compete unfairly in countless areas where the government has no excuse for intruding.
The CBC's subsidy does not just confront private sector firms with a $1.1-billion rival. Money that comes in for free is more like profit than income, a balance sheet item that provides breathing room. At a reasonable 6% profit rate, that subsidy gives the CBC the freedom of an $18-billion-a-year competitor to every other media company including the Sun's parent company, Quebecor, Inc. Except the CBC gets this "profit" whether it makes good decisions or not, so it can afford to sell below cost to dominate markets, experiment aggressively, and laugh off failures. The rest of us pay for every blunder.
Read the full story.
The CBC's subsidy does not just confront private sector firms with a $1.1-billion rival. Money that comes in for free is more like profit than income, a balance sheet item that provides breathing room. At a reasonable 6% profit rate, that subsidy gives the CBC the freedom of an $18-billion-a-year competitor to every other media company including the Sun's parent company, Quebecor, Inc. Except the CBC gets this "profit" whether it makes good decisions or not, so it can afford to sell below cost to dominate markets, experiment aggressively, and laugh off failures. The rest of us pay for every blunder.
Read the full story.
CBC staff send Hubert Lacroix open letter
From: Concerned Staff
Subject: CBC English Services Is In Crisis
To: Hubert.Lacroix@cbc.ca
Dear Mr. President,
A concerned group of staff are writing to inform you that CBC English Radio and Television are in a state of crisis and desperately require intervention.
Our current managerial structure seems to have been inspired by the mythical hydra whose many heads frequently consumed one another.
Sadly, these are ugly times and we recognize that were the authors of this letter ever to be identified, our careers, incomes and pensions would all be jeopardized. As such, we regret to inform you that this email account will be deactivated as soon as this letter has been sent.
Mr. President, morale at every conceivable level of CBC English Services is at an all-time low. As such, it has become necessary to publicly declare that “Rome is officially burning.” What is desperately needed now are more fire fighters and less fiddlers throughout CBC’s management system.
Yours in dismay,
Concerned CBC staff
Read the full letter.
Subject: CBC English Services Is In Crisis
To: Hubert.Lacroix@cbc.ca
Dear Mr. President,
A concerned group of staff are writing to inform you that CBC English Radio and Television are in a state of crisis and desperately require intervention.
Our current managerial structure seems to have been inspired by the mythical hydra whose many heads frequently consumed one another.
Sadly, these are ugly times and we recognize that were the authors of this letter ever to be identified, our careers, incomes and pensions would all be jeopardized. As such, we regret to inform you that this email account will be deactivated as soon as this letter has been sent.
Mr. President, morale at every conceivable level of CBC English Services is at an all-time low. As such, it has become necessary to publicly declare that “Rome is officially burning.” What is desperately needed now are more fire fighters and less fiddlers throughout CBC’s management system.
Yours in dismay,
Concerned CBC staff
Read the full letter.
Who at CBC makes more than $100,000 a year
How much does Peter Mansbridge make? How about Rick Mercer?
While we don't know exact figures, you can bet those two gentlemen are among the 730 CBC employees who earn more than $100,000 a year.
While the CBC did disclose that approximately 730 employees are paid more than $100,000 a year, the taxpayer funded corporation won't tell Parliament who they are and exactly how much they earn.
The only employee whose salary range and expenses the broadcaster was willing to divulge was CBC/Radio-Canada President Hubert Lacroix. The CBC said Lacroix's salary, set by the Governor in Council, was between $358,400 and $421,600 in 2011.
Lacroix is also provided with a 2011 Ford Taurus and a driver who earns between $34,000 and $56,500, according to the iPolitics report.
Read the full story.
While we don't know exact figures, you can bet those two gentlemen are among the 730 CBC employees who earn more than $100,000 a year.
While the CBC did disclose that approximately 730 employees are paid more than $100,000 a year, the taxpayer funded corporation won't tell Parliament who they are and exactly how much they earn.
The only employee whose salary range and expenses the broadcaster was willing to divulge was CBC/Radio-Canada President Hubert Lacroix. The CBC said Lacroix's salary, set by the Governor in Council, was between $358,400 and $421,600 in 2011.
Lacroix is also provided with a 2011 Ford Taurus and a driver who earns between $34,000 and $56,500, according to the iPolitics report.
Read the full story.
cbcExposed - CBC only tells one side of the story
Letter to CBC Exposed
The CBC’s Sunday Edition promoted a politically biased take
on international corporate taxation.
Mr. Enright’s bias was on full display last weekend when The
Sunday Edition ventured into the world of international corporate
taxation. Mr. Enright introduced
Dennis Howlett, executive director of an organization called Canadians for Tax
Fairness. Nothing was fully presented, backgrounds were unstated, journalistic
methods were highly questionable, the facts were mangled and the objectives
hidden. The interviewee, Dennis Howlett, is not a tax specialist, let alone a
corporate tax expert. He’s a long time social activist who has held a variety
of posts, including executive director of the National Anti-Poverty
Organization. He’s been a relentless campaigner over decades for social
justice, wealth redistribution and soak-the-rich government intervention. He’s
a star in NDP circles. Mr. Howlett’s current and relatively new gig is with
Canadians for Fair Taxation, which Mr. Enright failed to note is a union-backed
front. Canadians for Tax Fairness has no staff to speak of and is funded by the
National Union of Public and General Employees, CUPE, the postal workers and
other unions.
The segment ended with a typical CBC public affairs show
gambit: Mr. Enright said he had “repeatedly” asked Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty to come on the program and discuss corporate taxation, but his office
“repeatedly” declined. No wonder. The parallel would be to end an interview
with a Moscow university professor who denounced the United States as an
aggressive warmonger with a note that “we tried to get Mr. Obama to respond,
but his office declined. In other words, no effort was made to get another
opinion.
Here is the largest mistake in The Sunday Edition’s
corporate tax report: More taxes paid by multinationals will in fact NOT reduce
tax paid by individuals, contrary to the CBC's propaganda. The CBC's argument
is simply wrong. Recent studies have shown in the U.S., Germany and U.K. that a
significant share of the corporate tax paid by large corporations is paid by
lower-income Canadians — in fact it is regressive to the extent corporations
shift taxes onto consumers through higher prices. So people don’t see it, but
they pay a significant share of corporate taxes either through lower wages or
higher consumer prices.
The CBC is telling only one side of the story. The CBC is
very left-wing and biased. Please investigate this piece of biased journalism,
and have Mr Enright do a non-partisan report in correction. Please,
Ombudsperson, investigate why Mr Enright is always so biased. Please ensure the
CBC is more fair. Please reply to me.
Jon
Hubert Lacroix says CBC is different
The CBC is warning the federal government that its efforts to control salary negotiations at the Crown agency could be at odds with the Broadcasting Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, leading to litigation.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. chief executive Hubert Lacroix sent a letter to the Commons finance committee today, pleading for an amendment to the budget implementation bill to ensure the broadcaster's independence.
The government has presented the measure as part of efforts to control costs at a time of fiscal austerity, bringing Crown corporations under the same broad restraint program that has been imposed on public servants.
But the CBC is different, Lacroix writes. The Broadcasting Act gives the CBC's board of directors "explicit authority" to determine salaries, and specifies that employees of the broadcaster are not public servants.
Flaherty said the CBC may be independent in the way it conducts its journalism, but not on budgetary matters.
Read the full story.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. chief executive Hubert Lacroix sent a letter to the Commons finance committee today, pleading for an amendment to the budget implementation bill to ensure the broadcaster's independence.
The government has presented the measure as part of efforts to control costs at a time of fiscal austerity, bringing Crown corporations under the same broad restraint program that has been imposed on public servants.
But the CBC is different, Lacroix writes. The Broadcasting Act gives the CBC's board of directors "explicit authority" to determine salaries, and specifies that employees of the broadcaster are not public servants.
Flaherty said the CBC may be independent in the way it conducts its journalism, but not on budgetary matters.
Read the full story.
CBC pays $18 million to employees who don't show up to work
Canadians paid nearly $18 million in one year for CBC employees who failed to show up to work.
A report prepared for CBC's board of directors — which QMI Agency obtained through Access to Information — shows CBC workers were absent almost twice as often as private sector workers in fiscal year 2010-2011.
According to the document, CBC employees were absent from work an average of 16.5 days.
The total cost to taxpayers for absenteeism at the state broadcaster was $17.7 million for the year.
The report cites mental disorders as the leading cause of absenteeism (31% of all short-term absences and 44.6% of all long-term absences).
Read the full story.
A report prepared for CBC's board of directors — which QMI Agency obtained through Access to Information — shows CBC workers were absent almost twice as often as private sector workers in fiscal year 2010-2011.
According to the document, CBC employees were absent from work an average of 16.5 days.
The total cost to taxpayers for absenteeism at the state broadcaster was $17.7 million for the year.
The report cites mental disorders as the leading cause of absenteeism (31% of all short-term absences and 44.6% of all long-term absences).
Read the full story.
Corruption at heart of CBC
CBC reporters now have to turn their sights internally as auditors reveal the same sort of culture of entitlement that snared Senators Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy recently.
“We’ve been reporting a lot on ineligible expense claims by public officials, now we have a story in our own backyard,” CBC reporter Rosemary Barton reported on Friday.
This story is the tip of the iceberg of the corruption at the heart of Canada’s publicly funded broadcaster. Much like the BBC on which it is modeled, the CBC is hiding its secrets from public scrutiny through deception and lawyers. The CBC spends more than $3 million every year for external lawyers to hide issues like this, along with an extensive internal legal department.
Read the full story.
“We’ve been reporting a lot on ineligible expense claims by public officials, now we have a story in our own backyard,” CBC reporter Rosemary Barton reported on Friday.
This story is the tip of the iceberg of the corruption at the heart of Canada’s publicly funded broadcaster. Much like the BBC on which it is modeled, the CBC is hiding its secrets from public scrutiny through deception and lawyers. The CBC spends more than $3 million every year for external lawyers to hide issues like this, along with an extensive internal legal department.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix action unconscionable
Hypocrisy has reared its ugly head at the CBC.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix announced Friday that he quietly paid back $29,678.11 in inappropriate expenses last fall. The admittance came on the weekend, of course, when bad news is vetted to the press by media-savvy types.
Sun News host Brian Lilley reported last week that Lacroix repaid the expenses, incurred for hotels, meals and other expenses for work at CBC headquarters in Ottawa, away from his home in Montreal. Lacroix's annual salary is between $350,000 and $421,000, and includes a $1,500 monthly living allowance, club memberships and a car allowance. He had been wrongly claiming accommodation costs since being appointed in 2008.
That Lacroix didn't make public his repayment until the weekend is unconscionable, particularly since he paid it back months ago. This is not just an admittance of error, but an astounding lack of judgment.
Lacroix has but one move to make: Resign. Immediately. And if he doesn't, then the CBC itself should demand that he steps down.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix announced Friday that he quietly paid back $29,678.11 in inappropriate expenses last fall. The admittance came on the weekend, of course, when bad news is vetted to the press by media-savvy types.
Sun News host Brian Lilley reported last week that Lacroix repaid the expenses, incurred for hotels, meals and other expenses for work at CBC headquarters in Ottawa, away from his home in Montreal. Lacroix's annual salary is between $350,000 and $421,000, and includes a $1,500 monthly living allowance, club memberships and a car allowance. He had been wrongly claiming accommodation costs since being appointed in 2008.
That Lacroix didn't make public his repayment until the weekend is unconscionable, particularly since he paid it back months ago. This is not just an admittance of error, but an astounding lack of judgment.
Lacroix has but one move to make: Resign. Immediately. And if he doesn't, then the CBC itself should demand that he steps down.
Read the full story.
The CBC has been criticized for not releasing salaries
Heather Conway is moving from overseeing a staff of 600 people and a budget of $52 million to more than 4,000 employees and a budget of more than half a billion dollars.
Conway, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s chief business officer, has been appointed head of the CBC’s English language services.
As an employee of the Ontario government, Conway’s AGO salary of $308,000 is public. When she starts her CBC job in December, it won’t be.
Conway is fine with having her salary disclosed under Ontario law. “It’s trying to find that balance between people’s privacy and accountability for taxpayers dollars.”
The CBC has been criticized for not releasing salaries of top employees, which are paid by taxpayers. Instead it has given ranges for some executives, a policy that Conway says works, even though she is not averse to having hers revealed.
“I think it’s fair. It gives people a good picture without violating people’s privacy.”
Her boss, CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix, has had a salary range between $358,400 and $421,600. Conway’s range, according to the CBC, is $173,000 to $375,000.
QUESTION: As taxpayers we pay those salaries. Shouldn't we know how much we pay them? It's our money!
Read the full story.
Conway, the Art Gallery of Ontario’s chief business officer, has been appointed head of the CBC’s English language services.
As an employee of the Ontario government, Conway’s AGO salary of $308,000 is public. When she starts her CBC job in December, it won’t be.
Conway is fine with having her salary disclosed under Ontario law. “It’s trying to find that balance between people’s privacy and accountability for taxpayers dollars.”
The CBC has been criticized for not releasing salaries of top employees, which are paid by taxpayers. Instead it has given ranges for some executives, a policy that Conway says works, even though she is not averse to having hers revealed.
“I think it’s fair. It gives people a good picture without violating people’s privacy.”
Her boss, CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix, has had a salary range between $358,400 and $421,600. Conway’s range, according to the CBC, is $173,000 to $375,000.
QUESTION: As taxpayers we pay those salaries. Shouldn't we know how much we pay them? It's our money!
Read the full story.
CBC's Hubert Lacroix’s blunder threatens an intangible Canadian value
Hubert Lacroix is the current President and CEO of the CBC. Auditors caught him with nearly $30,000 worth of inappropriate travel and living expense claims accrued since 2008. This scandal comes after a wave of other public official expense scandals.
This comes at a bad time for the CBC, as Lacroix spoke recently of “dark clouds on the horizon” for the public broadcasting company, and Canadians may see a very different CBC in the coming years, if at all. This is in reference to recent government funding cuts to the CBC, and Lacroix’s mistake hasn’t helped the situation.
So far, this blunder has cost taxpayers a minuscule waste of money if you put it in context with other government inefficiencies, but Lacroix’s blunder threatens an intangible Canadian value: the preservation of our national identity. Our indifferent attitude to subjects like this is something that needs to change.
Should Lacroix be suspended? Absolutely. Should he be fined? Definitely. Should he be fired? Maybe.
Read the full story.
This comes at a bad time for the CBC, as Lacroix spoke recently of “dark clouds on the horizon” for the public broadcasting company, and Canadians may see a very different CBC in the coming years, if at all. This is in reference to recent government funding cuts to the CBC, and Lacroix’s mistake hasn’t helped the situation.
So far, this blunder has cost taxpayers a minuscule waste of money if you put it in context with other government inefficiencies, but Lacroix’s blunder threatens an intangible Canadian value: the preservation of our national identity. Our indifferent attitude to subjects like this is something that needs to change.
Should Lacroix be suspended? Absolutely. Should he be fined? Definitely. Should he be fired? Maybe.
Read the full story.
CBC's Peter Mansbridge paid by interest groups
CBC's viewers weren't happy when illuminated of the marquee anchor getting paid potentially big bucks to talk for an hour to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
The CBC's ombudsman finds no problem with Peter Mansbridge taking money to speak before an oil lobby group but says the public broadcaster should "think about the appearance of getting paid by interest groups who are likely to feature prominently in the news."
Read the full story.
The CBC's ombudsman finds no problem ... do YOU?
The CBC's ombudsman finds no problem with Peter Mansbridge taking money to speak before an oil lobby group but says the public broadcaster should "think about the appearance of getting paid by interest groups who are likely to feature prominently in the news."
Read the full story.
The CBC's ombudsman finds no problem ... do YOU?
Hubert Lacroix expense claims are fair game
The head of the CBC will face tough questions about the future of the public broadcaster Wednesday, but Hubert Lacroix should also brace for a grilling about his own expense claims.
The CBC president is to meet with senators on the transport and communications committee Wednesday evening to discuss challenges facing the public broadcaster, which recently warned its staff of deep cuts because of a cash crunch. It’s the first time Lacroix will face senators, who recently launched the study of the future of the CBC given the digital evolution in broadcasting and communications.
A Tory senator on the committee said Lacroix’s expense claims are fair game, as it also probes the CBC’s work on transparency and governance. Considering the bipartisan study of the CBC just launched, it’s likely that the committee will want to hear from Lacroix again in the coming months — including updates on expense claims.
Read the full story.
The CBC president is to meet with senators on the transport and communications committee Wednesday evening to discuss challenges facing the public broadcaster, which recently warned its staff of deep cuts because of a cash crunch. It’s the first time Lacroix will face senators, who recently launched the study of the future of the CBC given the digital evolution in broadcasting and communications.
A Tory senator on the committee said Lacroix’s expense claims are fair game, as it also probes the CBC’s work on transparency and governance. Considering the bipartisan study of the CBC just launched, it’s likely that the committee will want to hear from Lacroix again in the coming months — including updates on expense claims.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix involved in a cover-up
CBC President Hubert Lacroix is getting off lightly. He hid the discovery of his double dipping for 8 months in what could only be called a cover-up.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix waited until Sun Media revealed his expense double-dipping and then issued a bland statement that conceals most of the details. Lacroix told the Senate on February 26th, 2014 “An error was made by me and by the corporation in the way my Ottawa business expenses were reimbursed, expenses that had been signed off, posted, and audited quarterly….I voluntarily paid back every cent. ”
Of course there is much more to the story than what he told us. Lacroix is perpetuating the cover-up by leaving out important details. The public expect the media to ask Lacroix questions but reporters are silent. When Brian Lilley of Sun Media tried to ask Lacroix 2 questions, CBC’s President Lacroix ran off into the night.
Who in Canada will push this story to find the truth? The CBC is incapable of reporting on their own President.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix waited until Sun Media revealed his expense double-dipping and then issued a bland statement that conceals most of the details. Lacroix told the Senate on February 26th, 2014 “An error was made by me and by the corporation in the way my Ottawa business expenses were reimbursed, expenses that had been signed off, posted, and audited quarterly….I voluntarily paid back every cent. ”
Of course there is much more to the story than what he told us. Lacroix is perpetuating the cover-up by leaving out important details. The public expect the media to ask Lacroix questions but reporters are silent. When Brian Lilley of Sun Media tried to ask Lacroix 2 questions, CBC’s President Lacroix ran off into the night.
Who in Canada will push this story to find the truth? The CBC is incapable of reporting on their own President.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix should resign
Hypocrisy has reared its ugly head at the CBC.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix announced Friday that he quietly paid back $29,678.11 in inappropriate expenses last fall. The admittance came on the weekend, of course, when bad news is vetted to the press by media-savvy types.
That Lacroix didn't make public his repayment until the weekend is unconscionable, particularly since he paid it back months ago. This is not just an admittance of error, but an astounding lack of judgment.
Lacroix has but one move to make: Resign. And if he doesn't, then the CBC itself should demand that he steps down.
Wait a minute: Isn't it the CBC that continually leads the charge against the grave, egregious sins of senators who make bogus expense claims? The CBC has been persistent in pointing out the wrongdoings of senators Mike Duffy, Mac Harb Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin, which they should have done.
These senators, who drew from the public purse, have either resigned or been expelled. Why should it be any different for Lacroix? It's still public money.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix announced Friday that he quietly paid back $29,678.11 in inappropriate expenses last fall. The admittance came on the weekend, of course, when bad news is vetted to the press by media-savvy types.
That Lacroix didn't make public his repayment until the weekend is unconscionable, particularly since he paid it back months ago. This is not just an admittance of error, but an astounding lack of judgment.
Lacroix has but one move to make: Resign. And if he doesn't, then the CBC itself should demand that he steps down.
Wait a minute: Isn't it the CBC that continually leads the charge against the grave, egregious sins of senators who make bogus expense claims? The CBC has been persistent in pointing out the wrongdoings of senators Mike Duffy, Mac Harb Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin, which they should have done.
These senators, who drew from the public purse, have either resigned or been expelled. Why should it be any different for Lacroix? It's still public money.
Read the full story.
CBC should adopt PBS model
Most Canadians would like to see the CBC reformed to operate as a non-for-profit broadcaster like PBS, according to a new poll completed for QMI Agency.
Research firm Abacus Data conducted an online survey and found that 53% of participants want to see CBC's operating costs cut and for the broadcaster to operate through advertising and viewer contributions. PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, is an American non-profit television network which operates under this model.
Other Abacus findings indicate Canadians aren't opposed to Crown corporations competing directly with private business but most believe these companies should not receive any funding or special status.
Only one in 10 Canadians believe there should be no caps on Crown corporations who compete directly with private companies.
CBC/Radio-Canada receives $1.1 billion in federal funding annual, even though a majority of Canadians surveyed had no clue about how much money the broadcaster receives.
Read the full story.
Research firm Abacus Data conducted an online survey and found that 53% of participants want to see CBC's operating costs cut and for the broadcaster to operate through advertising and viewer contributions. PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, is an American non-profit television network which operates under this model.
Other Abacus findings indicate Canadians aren't opposed to Crown corporations competing directly with private business but most believe these companies should not receive any funding or special status.
Only one in 10 Canadians believe there should be no caps on Crown corporations who compete directly with private companies.
CBC/Radio-Canada receives $1.1 billion in federal funding annual, even though a majority of Canadians surveyed had no clue about how much money the broadcaster receives.
Read the full story.
CBC President Hubert Lacroix violates CBC's own bylaws
If you feel like you are constantly getting your pockets picked by the people above you, it’s probably because you are. But today rather than some caricature of a robber baron taking your money, it is government bureaucrats.
Last summer, in the middle of a national uproar over the Senate expense scandal, CBC President Hubert Lacroix quietly paid back $29,678.11 in inappropriate expenses.
It seems that Lacroix was also double dipping when it came to having taxpayers foot the bill for his lifestyle.
Lacroix, a Montreal lawyer, chose not to move to Ottawa when he took the job of CBC president in October 2007. Instead he negotiated an extra $1,500 a month in after-tax income as a “living allowance” to be paid on top of his salary. Now we don’t know what Lacroix’s exact salary is because CBC refuses to say, but they do admit the range is between $350,000 and $421,000, not counting an annual six-figure bonus and other perks such as a car allowance and club memberships.
Yet somehow that wasn’t enough of your money so Lacroix ended up submitting expense claims for his trips to Ottawa even though that clearly violates CBC’s own bylaws.
Read the full story.
Last summer, in the middle of a national uproar over the Senate expense scandal, CBC President Hubert Lacroix quietly paid back $29,678.11 in inappropriate expenses.
It seems that Lacroix was also double dipping when it came to having taxpayers foot the bill for his lifestyle.
Lacroix, a Montreal lawyer, chose not to move to Ottawa when he took the job of CBC president in October 2007. Instead he negotiated an extra $1,500 a month in after-tax income as a “living allowance” to be paid on top of his salary. Now we don’t know what Lacroix’s exact salary is because CBC refuses to say, but they do admit the range is between $350,000 and $421,000, not counting an annual six-figure bonus and other perks such as a car allowance and club memberships.
Yet somehow that wasn’t enough of your money so Lacroix ended up submitting expense claims for his trips to Ottawa even though that clearly violates CBC’s own bylaws.
Read the full story.
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