For the eight year in a row, the CBC received its “one-time” funding of $60 million from the government today.

CBC President Hubert Lacroix confirmed the funding in a note to staff this afternoon. This year the funding announcement was confirmed quite quickly after the budget. Last year staff endured several weeks of nail-biting before we found out if we’d be getting the money.

I’m starting to think that the Conservative government may actually like the CBC.

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	Parliament	Posted at 8:21 pm (10 Mar 2010)

This is the complete text of CBC President Hubert Lacroix’s note to CBC staff on the federal budget that was tabled yesterday. Lacroix says he’s pleased that the ceeb’s budget wasn’t cut like other departments, however there are other issues affecting the CBC’s finances.

March 5, 2010 – The Federal Budget was tabled yesterday. While we’re still studying details, I wanted to share my initial response to what the Budget means for CBC/Radio-Canada.

First and foremost, I am very happy with the Government’s support of CBC/Radio-Canada in the context of the Strategic Review initiative. As you may remember, we were asked to review the performance of all of our services and to identify 5 per cent of our budget that could have been reallocated elsewhere by Government. After reviewing us, the Government concluded that, “…reallocations were not necessary as programs delivered by [CBC/Radio-Canada] are aligned with the priorities of Canadians.”

This is good news for us. You should know that our Minister, the Hon. James Moore, really went to bat for us on this file and supported our position; I am very grateful to him (and his staff) for standing up for us in these difficult economic times. I’m also very pleased with the government’s endorsement of our services. It’s a great vote of confidence that I think we can all be proud of.

The continued stability in our funding will help us complete the two-year recovery plan we implemented last March.

You have no doubt heard about the Government’s three-year freeze on funding for salary increases. We understand that this measure will extend to CBC/Radio-Canada. It means that each organization will have to find its own way to manage the budget implications of this freeze. We will be studying what that means for us.

There are a number of other issues affecting our finances that we should learn more about in the coming weeks, but I wanted to share the conclusion of the Strategic Review with you immediately.

Cheers.

Hubert

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	Parliament	Posted at 4:56 pm (05 Mar 2010)

The CBC dodged a bullet this afternoon. The federal budget that was released today spared the CBC, and three other crown corporations. CBC staff widely feared this budget would include some painful structural cuts.

The worry arose from the strategic review process that was launched last May. That process could well have resulted in deep budget cuts to the corporation. According to the review guidelines as much as five per cent of the CBC’s budget was at stake.

The first two years of the strategic review process has already resulted in cuts of almost $1 billion. The federal budget released today, identified another $287 million in cuts from 12 different government departments, but the CBC, The Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board of Canada and Telefilm Canada all escaped unscathed.

CBC staff were relieved this afternoon as details of the federal budget emerged. The budget document itself doesn’t elaborate on why the CBC was not forced to cut programs under the review process, simply stating that “reallocations were not necessary as programs delivered by these organizations are aligned with the priorities of Canadians.”

Lise Lareau, the president of the Canadian Media Guild said “That means the dreaded and secretive “strategic review process” that the government began last fall and which could have wiped away as much as $50M from the CBC’s allocation is OFF.”

However Lareau added that the CBC is not out of the woods yet, “whether there will be some collateral damage from some broader departmental cut, it’s too early to say,” she wrote in an email, “I find that we rarely find out the (usually bad) details until the supplementary estimates come out, and that can take days or weeks.”

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	Parliament	Posted at 6:55 pm (04 Mar 2010)

Keith Boag, the CBC’s outgoing chief political correspondent, told the Hill Times that the changes at the CBC’s parliamentary bureau  are “probably the most sudden and dramatic change that we have ever seen in the Ottawa bureau.”

“There are big changes coming but I think there are lots of reasons to be excited about that, and optimistic about it. Change is good,” Boag said.

Boag also praised his replacement, Terry Milewski, “When Terry is on you have a tendency to turn the volume up, not down,” Boag said to the paper.

For his part Milewski said he wasn’t relishing swapping Vancouver’s climate for Ottawa’s, “A thrill doesn’t run down your spine when you get the news that you’re to be condemned to five months of hellish winters,” he said. Nevertheless he told the Times that he’s looking forward to the prospect of a “juicy period” in politics.

The full Hill Times article his available here.

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	Ottawa, Parliament	Posted at 9:49 pm (27 Jul 2009)

On the eve of his last day at the CBC, Don Newman is hosting a live chat today at noon Eastern Time.

Newman is widely respected for his parliamentary analysis and long-standing coverage of Parliament Hill. In 1989 he helped launched CBC Newsworld, since then he’s covered every political story and scandal under the sun. It’s rumoured that some Prime Ministers used to call him directly, sometimes when he was on the air, to tip him off about breaking stories.

You can submit your questions in advance, or log in and ask questions live during the Q & A session, by going here.

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	News & Journalism, Parliament	Posted at 7:54 am (18 Jun 2009)

According to the National Post the federal government has identified several crown corporations that it considers to be “not self-sustaining” and could be sold including Via Rail, the National Arts Centre and the CBC.

The crown asset review was signalled by the government last November in a budget update. The review is the first step in identifying assets that could be sold to help the government reduce it’s balooning deficit. Several crown holdings were touted for sale in the fall, but this is the first report of the CBC also being under review.

The Globe is reporting that selling the CBC is unlikely. This is simply an attempt by the government to be thorough. “Everything’s going to be included. We’re not going to exclude anything off the top,” a government source told the Globe. However the source added that it would be hard to imagine the CBC being sold.

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	Parliament	Posted at 7:44 am (02 Jun 2009)

Heritage Minister James Moore will be on CBC’s The Hour tonight at 11p.m. to discuss a possible bailout for the media industry in Canada.

Moore’s appearance coincides with rumours that the Conversative government is considering a bailout for private broadcasters that could be as large as $150 million in the face of an aggressive lobbying campaign by CanWest Global and CTV called ‘Save Local TV’.

Over the last couple weeks that campaign has attracted thousands of signatories and the government may be feeling the pressure.

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	Parliament, The Media Landscape	Posted at 1:13 pm (27 May 2009)

Already reeling from the fallout from a $171 million shortfall, the CBC is now facing a strategic review from the federal government that could result in more cuts.

“The objective of the strategic review is to evaluate all of our program and spending activities to identify the lowest priorities in terms of carrying out our mandate,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said in a note to staff on Friday, adding that a five per cent target has been identified.

The Canadian Media Guild says the review is nothing more than a disguise for a budget cut. The CMG said the cut could be as much as $50 million. “We know a further cut would be devastating to programming,” Lise Lareau, president of the CMG, said.

Lareau said the strategic review can force any agency that receives government funds to identify up to five per cent of spending that could be cut.

“This is especially shocking since it came only a week after Heritage Minister James Moore told the parliamentary Heritage committee that CBC’s funding would not be cut,” Lareau said.

The review results will be taken into consideration for next year’s budget. “I’m not going to speculate about the outcome or the impact that this could possibly have on our 2010-2011 appropriation and budget,” Lacroix said. “results will not be known until the Government’s budget is released, usually early in the new year.”

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	Parliament	Posted at 11:08 am (11 May 2009)

Veteran CBC broadcaster Don Newman has announced his retirement. Newman was well known for his work on Parliament Hill over many years – as much for his distinctive trademark drawl as his lack of patience with political rhetoric and his uncompromising interviews.

His interview with Jean Chrétien in the wake of the former Prime Minister’s retirement stands out as one of his many memorable interviews.

Newman told CBC News that he’d continue hosting the Newsworld show Politics until June. According to the CBC he has decided to take the retirement package.

Newman’s career spanned 40 years and included reporting on events from the Watergate scandal to the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords. A member of the Order of Canada, he has been working from the CBC’s parliamentary bureau since 1981.

During his show yesterday Newman addressed his retirement with characteristic professionalism, saying that he had become something no “that no reporter should – a story himself.”

“I very much appreciate all the kind comments and good wishes that I have been receiving. But I am going to be here for another seven weeks and there is lot of political news still to report.”

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	News & Journalism, Parliament, Personalities	Posted at 11:35 am (05 May 2009)

CBC President Hubert Lacroix spoke at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Monday to try to ensure the CBC is not excluded if regulatory changes result in additional revenue for Canadian broadcasters.

Lacroix told the committee private broadcasters are trying to elbow out the CBC. He said every one of the the cable companies that faced the committee in the last couple weeks referred to the CBC’s government funding. “But, these broadcasters and cable companies conveniently fail to remind you,” he added, “is that CBC/Radio-Canada also has a mandate, directly from the Broadcasting Act, that no one else has.”

He added that the difficulties facing broadcasters is threatening how effectively the CBC can deliver on its mandate, especially delivering regional programming across six time zones, in two official languages. “I’m not here to blackmail you… I am not here to threaten to pull out of the regions,” Lacroix said. “What I came here to do is remind you that we have a mandate,” Lacroix said. “If you want to us to continue to serve Canadians, don’t exclude us from that funding.”

The committee is holding hearings on the crisis currently faced by the Canadian television industry. For the last few weeks private broadcasters have been lobbying the government to loosen regulations or allow them to charge carriers a fee for carrying their signals, a system know as fee-for-carriage. Specialty channels currently charge subscribers the fee, but traditional broadcasters, such as Global, CTV and CBC do not.

Dean Del Mastro, the Conservative member for Peterborough, said if fee-for-carriage is implemented “Aren’t we going to take money from ratepayers and funnel that back to Hollywood?”

Lacroix insisted that the additional revenue be reserved for regional programming “then you would not see fee-for-carriage going to Hollywood.”

“We’ve always maintained that fee-for-carriage should be tied to specific initiatives – like improved local services – activities for which existing advertising revenue is not sufficient,” Lacroix said.

Lacroix’s speaking notes are available here. The CBC’s submission to the committee is here.

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	Parliament, The Media Landscape	Posted at 3:12 pm (27 Apr 2009)

The Canadian Press is reporting that the federal government is considering a $150 million fund for private broadcasters to safeguard local news and stations.

According to CP, members of the cabinet priorities and planning committee met yesterday to discuss the options. The fund would be directed at news and current affairs programming in smaller urban centres.

“Whether the CBC would be eligible is still unclear, although the private broadcasters have been lobbying vigorously against it,” the CP article reads.

“It would be absurd to come up with a bailout program for the media industry that completely ignores the public broadcaster,” Lise Lareau, president of the Canadian Media Guild said.

“Obviously the government’s role is to be the caretaker of the public broadcaster on behalf of Canadians and so we expect it will fulfill that role and place the needs of the CBC high on the priority list when it considers any bailout for local news,” Lareau added.

The full article is here.

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	Parliament, The Media Landscape	Posted at 7:14 am (08 Apr 2009)

Several ministers debated an opposition motion for bridge financing and additional funding to the CBC Tuesday in the House of Commons.

“We are now going to see cuts that are so deep that there’s no coming back from,” Charlie Angus, the NDP’s heritage critic said.

The motion, which included recommendations for additional funding, is here.

The motion was carried 136 to 126. That doesn’t mean that the CBC will receive more money, it was an non-binding opposition motion – simply a gesture of support from parliamentarians.

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	Parliament	Posted at 10:58 am (31 Mar 2009)

Heritage Minister James Moore confirmed today that the CBC would be receiving the $60 million in annual funding that it has received each year since 2001.

“Yeah, the CBC will be receiving their full allocation, including the $60 million for programming,” Moore said in response to a question from Suhana Meharchand this afternoon. The status of the funding has been up in the air since the federal budget was tabled in January.

The minister also suggested that the government is willing to work in collaboration with CBC/Radio-Canada when it comes to the sale of up to $125 million in assets to help offset next year’s budget shortfall.  The sale of assets requires Cabinet approval.

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	Parliament	Posted at 5:05 pm (26 Mar 2009)

After a two-day meeting the CBC’s board of directors approved a budget that includes deep cuts in an attempt to grapple with a $200 million shortfall.

There were no further details about the size of the cutbacks. 

CBC President Hubert Lacroix said last month that the current shortfall could be as high as $145 million. Add to that another $60 million in annual funding from the federal government that was not in this year’s budget, and the shortfall ends up being over $200 million. That shortfall is more than 10 per cent of the entire CBC budget, and would represent significant cutbacks. 

Heritage Minister James Moore gave an interview to CBC Radio yesterday. He the CBC has some “difficult decisions to make in the near future.”

He also said when Canadians “turn on the CBC they expect to see Canadian drama, Canadian arts, Canadian kids programming, Canadian news and Canadian content, not American game shows.”

Moore also said he doesn’t favour adding commercials to CBC Radio. 

For an article from cbc.ca see here.

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	Executives, Layoffs, Parliament	Posted at 7:40 am (18 Mar 2009)

Hey guys, since I’m on vacation, I’ll keep this short…

Heritage Minister James Moore said today there would be no additional funding for the CBC. “The CBC is receiving $1.1 billion this year and that’s the allocation that they will have for this year,” Moore said.

For the last few months CBC President Hubert Lacroix had been in discussions with the federal government about ways to alleviate a sharp drop in advertising revenue. Today’s comments put an end to any hope from those discussions.

The only question that remains is whether Moore’s comments also mean that the $60 million annual grant that the CBC has been receiving every year since 2001 is also off the table.

If the annual grant disappears, it could cripple the corporation. Losing the grant, in addition to the drop in advertising revenue, could easily amount to a $150 million shortfall. That would be about 10 per cent of the CBC’s total budget.

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	Parliament, The Media Landscape	Posted at 10:22 pm (09 Mar 2009)