Two people have been appointed to the Board of Directors of CBC/Radio-Canada.

Joseph Handley is the retired Premier of the Northwest Territories, a position he occupied from 2003 to 2007. Throughout his political career in the Northwest Territories, he held many positions, including Minister of Finance; Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development; and Minister of Aboriginal and Intergovernmental Affairs and Housing. Prior to his political involvement, Mr. Handley was Deputy Minister for the Government of Northwest Territories and, before that, a teacher.

George Cooper is — wait for it! — a lawyer. (I know. Who’d have guessed?!) He’s a senior partner in the law firm McInnes Cooper in Halifax and has been involved in a number of academic and professional activities, including serving on the boards of Black Bull Resources, the Canadian National Railway, and the University of King’s College in Halifax. He is a Member of the Order of Canada and is also a former Member of Parliament.

I’m just sayin’. Have a good weekend!

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	Email this	Posted at 3:38 pm (16 May 2008)

Today at 3:30 p.m. ET, CBC President Hubert T. Lacroix will be appearing before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, his first appearance since starting as President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada in January.

Lacroix, who will be accompanied by Richard Stursberg and Sylvain Lafrance, will address the Committee’s recent review of the CBC/Radio-Canada mandate, highlight some of his priorities for the Corporation, and reiterate the call for a seven-year Memorandum of Understanding with Canadians that would define CBC/Radio-Canada’s role in the evolving media landscape. His address will be followed by a question and answer period.

The proceedings will be webcast here.

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	Email this	Posted at 10:07 am (01 May 2008)

Easy come, easy go. Turns out, CBC board member Mary McNeil of Vancouver quietly stepped down from the Board of Directors before even attending her first Board meeting last week. She has decided instead to run for provincial office. No appointee has been named in her place yet.

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	Email this	Posted at 4:19 pm (28 Mar 2008)

Late last week, the federal government appointed three new members to the CBC Board of Directors. Two of the three have strong ties to the Conservative party:

• Mary McNeil is a fundraiser and charity executive by profession. Earlier this year, she was hand-picked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to compete for the candidacy in a wealthy Vancouver riding. (She said she’d never favoured any party, but acknowledged her whole family were Conservative party supporters.) She lost the bid to a business professor.
• Brian Mitchell, lawyer #1, sits on a number of other boards in Montreal. He is a former member of the Conservative National Council. He once ran against Joe Clark for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party, then ran unsuccessfully in for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Until the CBC appointment, he has served on the Conservative Party’s national council.
• Linda Black, lawyer #2, has been a senior executive in a variety of government roles — most recently in a provincial Labour Relations ministry. She’s currently a lawyer with a legal review board.

Opposition MPs claimed the appointments to the CBC Board were part of a larger strategy to fill vacancies on federal Boards in advance of a possible federal election. (Along with 15 judicial appointments, people were appointed to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the CRTC, the Bank of Canada, the National Welfare Council, the Canada Race Relations Foundation and others.)

The appointments were made without the supervision of the federal appointments commission that Prime Minister Harper had promised during the last election campaign.

Also related to broadcasting, CTV reporter Marc Patrone, a former Conservative candidate, was named as a CRTC commissioner. The Globe and Mail says the job pays $126,200 to $148,500 a year.

However, respected Conservative blogger Stephen Taylor did a study in 2005 and discovered that 85% of political contributions from CBC board members went to the Liberal party.

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	Email this	Posted at 12:17 pm (26 Feb 2008)

Here’s a strange twist in the saga over the international rights sale of 135 programs.

The Corporation has taken the unusual step of publicizing that its Board of Directors has given the green light to the deal. (The Corporation rarely announces specific Board decisions. In this case, the Board’s support was distributed both on the CBC’s corporate news feed and as a news release to other media.)

The deal, which sees the CBC sell off all international rights to its program catalogue of about 135 active titles, came under heavy criticism from Canadian firms who said they should have been given the opportunity to bid for the rights. The deal was done with the British firm Fireworks International. A Canadian office will be established to manage the assets.The sale is permanent; the deal is not structured on any kind of multiple-year agreement.

Two days after the proposed sale was announced, the parent company, ContentFilm, was bought by Toronto-based Peace Arch. CBC executive Fred Fuchs was a senior vice-president at Peace Arch before coming to the CBC.

In an email to staff this morning updating them on the Board meeting, CBC’s new President Hubert Lacroix said:

“[Head of CBC’s English services Richard Stursberg’s] analysis shows that public tendering would have diluted the value of our assets while increasing the negative impact for staff. During the discussion, Board members voiced different points of view, considerations and concerns.”

“I am convinced that we, in exiting this business in this way, struck a deal that allows us to maximize the consideration for these distribution rights, while meeting the strategic objectives that we sought [including] continued income stream to CBC for the sale of active titles in the catalogue.”

While CBC executive Steve Billinger, a key player in the negotiations, has said he does not yet know what the impact of the 11 staff within CBC’s international sales division will be, he did say the deal with Fireworks included discussions about taking on at least some of those staff. Lacroix was more direct: “Content Film/Fireworks has expressed interest in our employees, which was a really important factor for us in taking this decision.”The Canadian Media Guild says the Corporation contracted out the work of international sales employees without following collective agreement provisions or Corporation policies on procurement of services. It says it “was never consulted on the plan and never had an opportunity to examine the business case or to propose alternatives to sending the work outside.”

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	Email this	Posted at 12:14 pm (24 Jan 2008)

So, welcome to Day One of the integrated CBC! How’s it going so far?

To recap: Yesterday, CBC president Robert Rabinovitch announced that effective immediately, all its English-language services would be integrated under Richard Stursberg, who takes the new position of executive vice-president, English services.

There followed two internal “town hall” sessions (one a mere 23 minutes after the announcement was sent out) to discuss the changes. [Note: If you missed them, CBC employees can call the number included on the e-mail to hear an “instant replay” recording of either town hall session, available until Monday afternoon.]

Then at 6:00 last night, Richard Stursberg and Jennifer McGuire (who is now executive director of CBC Radio) sent a note to staff assuring that the move is about keeping up with technology, and does not signal a change in direction. Special emphasis was put on CBC Radio, whose concerns took up a large part of the town hall sessions.

Our goal has not and will not change - to deliver a public broadcasting service that reflects the values and aspirations of Canadians. Through innovative programming and continuous renewal, we are delivering high quality programming that reaches a broad audience. We have turned a corner and in many respects, Radio has led the way. It makes perfect sense then, that the plan for Radio is continuity and stability.

Both executives clearly repeated that point. McGuire led the 1:00 session by telling her staff that although the news “may seem a bit unsettling”, they should be assured that “when you wake up tomorrow, nothing’s changed.” Stursberg told those present that CBC Radio is going in “absolutely the right direction” and his goal is to “get you there further and faster.”

A similar service integration was undertaken at Radio-Canada in 2005. Andy Barrie, who hosted the town hall, reminded listeners that CBC was once integrated under Peter Herrndorf, who now sits on the board of directors that approved the changes on Wednesday. And CBC News integration has been happening for years.

So, what does it all mean?

In the short term, it doesn’t appear to mean major staffing changes (though last month’s announced newsroom integration at BBC could result in 2,500 job cuts.) Anonymous management blogger Ouimet thinks it makes sense, structurally, and the next step should be an English-French integration. In an article for Playback, Ian Morrison says the changes could “downgrade the independence” of CBC Radio, while CMG head Lise Lareau worries that Stursberg is “not seen as a radio guy and now he’s in charge of their lives.” According to the Globe, it means more Jian.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

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	Email this	Posted at 11:03 am (23 Nov 2007)

In a note to staff today, CBC president Robert Rabinovitch announced that the CBC Board of Directors has approved “the formal integration of CBC Radio and CBC Television, which is effective immediately. The integrated services, including CBC.ca, will be led by Richard Stursberg, Executive Vice-President, English Services.” Jennifer McGuire becomes the new Executive Director of CBC Radio, reporting directly to Stursberg. The moves are based in part on Radio-Canada’s 2005 integration under Sylvain Lafrance. More information is expected later today.

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	Email this	Posted at 12:40 pm (22 Nov 2007)

The NDP’s culture critic Charlie Angus has called on CBC Chairman Timothy Casgrain to remove Tom Long from any involvement in the search for a new CBC President and head of news.

“Mr. Long is a Conservative insider with ties that go all the way to PMO communications director, Sandra Buckler,” said Angus. “This is just another way for Harper to control media content. We are hoping that Mr. Casgrain will recognize this clear conflict of interest and remove Tom Long from participating in any way in the process.”

A CBC spokesperson last week told reporters that the CBC is not involved in the hiring process, as it falls within the responsibility of Parliament.

Angus raised the issue of Long’s involvement last week, after an internal memo went out to CBC staff advising them to send their application for the open position to him. The NDP MP sent a letter to Casgrain on Thursday asking him to “do everything in his power as chair of the institution to remove any doubt in Canadians’ minds that the search is above reproach,” according to a NDP release.

“The CBC is a public institution whose newsroom cannot afford to be tainted with the perception of political interference,” said Angus. “And Long’s involvement is akin to sugar in a gas tank.”

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	Email this	Posted at 11:36 am (10 Aug 2007)

Canadian Press — The Conservative government is facing charges of political meddling in the selection process for a new president and chief of news operations at the CBC.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus raised the alarm Thursday, after an internal memo went out to CBC journalists advising candidates for the job of executive director of news to send their applications to Tom Long – veteran Tory backroomer and one-time Canadian Alliance leadership candidate.

Long is now a partner of Egon Zehnder International, an executive headhunting firm that’s also handling the search for a new president to succeed Liberal appointee Robert Rabinovitch, who is due to depart soon.

The news director’s job came open when Tony Burman, a 35-year journalistic veteran, stepped down last month.

Angus took Long’s involvement as a sign that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is trying to fill the ranks of upper management with people who will be favourable to his Conservative government.

“It is absolutely outrageous to think that the resumes of potential senior CBC news directors are being personally vetted by the likes of Mr. Long,” said the NDP cultural affairs critic.

Long was a key architect of former Conservative premier Mike Harris’s right-leaning Common Sense revolution in Ontario. His leadership bid for the former Canadian Alliance failed when it was revealed his organizers had signed up thousands of bogus new party members in the Gaspe region of Quebec to swell his voting ranks.

Fred Loiselle, who was Long’s campaign manager in the leadership race, now serves as chief of staff to Public Works Minister Michael Fortier.

His media spokesperson for the campaign was Sandra Buckler, now communications director for Harper – a fact that only heightened Angus’s concern.

“Stephen Harper has been obsessive in his attempt to control, limit and spin the political media of this country,” he said. “It is unacceptable that he has a key political buddy vetting the resumes of potential CBC news directors.”

Katherine Heath-Eves, a spokesperson for the CBC, said the use of Egon Zehnder to screen candidates is nothing new. The firm has done the same job for more than a decade in filling top posts at the public broadcaster.

“There’s no individual at the firm who owns the relationship with CBC,” she said. “All of the searches are carried out by teams of Egon Zehnder personnel, not by individuals.”

She acknowledged, however, that Long’s name on the internal memo indicates he is the “lead executive” for the news director search. It wasn’t clear who gave him that job, or whether he would take the same lead role in the search for a president.

Long did nothing to clarify things. “Egon Zehnder policy is not to comment publicly on client work,” he wrote in a terse email response to queries.

There was no comment from the Prime Minister’s Office, but Veronique Bruneau, a spokesperson for Heritage Minister Bev Oda, said it’s up to the CBC to choose the search firm it wants to use.

She couldn’t explain how Long happened to be the executive who ended up leading the search, but said the process will produce a list of candidates who will then be interviewed. For the president’s post, Oda will have political responsibility for recommending a final choice to cabinet.

Angus agreed there’s nothing wrong with using an executive search firm to fill CBC positions and acknowledged Egon Zehnder has a good track record. But he insisted Long should refrain from participating in the process to avoid any appearance of political interference.

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	Email this	Posted at 8:32 pm (04 Aug 2007)

As most CBCers know, current president Robert Rabinovitch will be leaving the position in November. Today, the Corp posted notice that the federal government is starting a formal recruitment process to name a successor. You’ll could be seeing recruitment ads in newspapers or elsewhere as early as tomorrow.

Thanks to my sources, I have been leaked the confidential questionnaire that would-be applicants will be filling out. Feel free to print it and send it in.

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	Email this	Posted at 4:20 pm (25 Jul 2007)

Earlier today, I had the opportunity to speak with incoming CBC chairperson Timothy Casgrain. Questions he answered include:

• Will you be seeking additional funding for the CBC from the federal government?
• What role would you like to see the Board of Directors have in future labour disputes?
• How do you defend criticism that your lack of experience in broadcasting or the arts makes your selection questionable?
• What will be the CBC’s biggest challenge in the next five years

I was very grateful that he took a moment out of his schedule to speak to you through this blog. And now, discuss!

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	Email this	Posted at 3:45 pm (30 May 2007)

This is most of the Q&A session from this morning’s questioning of incoming CBC Chairman Timothy Casgrain. (I missed the first 20 minutes because my computer and I were having a disagreement about who’s boss.) You can listen to it here (click the play icon above) or download it and move it to your audio player of choice.

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	Email this	Posted at 4:09 pm (29 May 2007)