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!

– How close he came to leaving Canada for a high-paying job for CBS

– How did the conversation with Knowlton Nash play out when Nash offered Mansbridge the anchor chair.

…and more.

Watch the video on The Hour’s recently redesigned web site.

As always, your thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome!

– Tod

Debuting May 31, from 5 to 6 p.m., is a new show from Calgary called In Tune. Hosted by classically trained musician Katherine Duncan, the program will focus on trends in classical music. Currently, Duncan is the Calgary host of Canada Live, and before that hosted Symphony Hall for 10 years.

Tom Power, a newcomer to CBC, will host Deep Roots. Based in Newfoundland, Power will offer listeners music in the roots/folk genres with a special emphasis on Canadian musicians. Deep Roots replaces I Hear Music in the 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. timeslot.Robert Harris, who had hosted I Hear Music since September 2000, will now produce documentaries for Radio 2. “Inside the Music is the likely spot for Robert’s new work,” explained CBC Radio’s director of programming, Chris Boyce. “But given his enormous talent, we have no doubt that Robert will be heard throughout the Radio 2 schedule.”

Star Choice has decided to drop yet another channel

The CBC launched another formal complaint with the CRTC this week. RDI is on a very small list of channels that all providers are required to carry with their basic package, and the CBC argues that Star Choice is now in violation of its broadcast licence.

Earlier this week, five local news channels, including CBC Saskatchewan, were replaced by specialty channels like MuchMusic and Teletoon Retro by Star Choice.

Perhaps they got rid of RDI because they needed room for the Golf Channel?

According to Reuters

The story that Tony Burman had recently joined the Arab world’s leading news channel, Al-Jazeera, has provoked numerous commentaries. When asked to comment on his new role for this Star piece, Burman said

“Without sounding like a typically self-righteous Canadian, we tend to view things with a detachment that in journalism is a very valued asset. Canadians are viewed in a very favourable way that I must say I find flattering”.

The darker side of commentary has been very busy as well, including this piece in the National Post which stops a hair short of calling Burman and the CBC anti-Semitic, and this one in which the headline denotes that “the rest of them” should be gotten rid of as well. Probably all to be expected, given the demonization of Al-Jazeera in some media after 9/11.

It really wasn’t that long ago (1999) when Canada’s federal broadcast regulator studied the Internet and decided — in what can only be termed a blatantly obvious decision — that they won’t regulate the Internet. (Although, just for snits and giggles, it would have been fun to watch them try.)

Enter 2008. And just hours ago, the CRTC announced it would study… wait for it!… “the new media envirornment in Canada!” [sfx fanfare] This seems to have emerged from their previous study called the New Media Project Initiative, which was established to “highlight changes [to yet another, previous study] since 2006.”

The product of which… I think, I’m kind of getting lost here… is this morning’s call for comments about how new media intersects with broadcasting.

“New digital technologies and platforms are creating opportunities for the broadcast of professionally-produced Canadian content that simply didn’t exist a few years ago,” said the CRTC Chairperson. “Our intention is not to regulate new media, but rather to gain a better understanding of this environment and, if necessary, to propose measures that would support the continued achievement of the Broadcasting Act’s objectives.”

To be clear… (from a CBCnews.ca article)

The commission in 1999 decided against regulating broadcasting over the internet because it was still in a fledgling state, and issued a similar decision in 2007 on cellphones. However, because the pace of technological change has been so rapid, the CRTC said it is now time to review its role. [emphasis added]

The Commission wants to hear your opinions.

You have until July 11 to send your comments online, faxing 819-994-0218, or through their web site launched today to collect comments at http://crtc.newmedia.econsultation.ca.

The Bureau of Broadcast Measurement’s spring ratings are out - and ratings are up for the Montreal newscast by 28%; 22% of those are new viewers.

This article speculates that some of those viewers may have jumped ship with Frank Cavallaro, an award-winning Weather Specialist who just joined the CBC earlier this year when the CTV news team did not renew his contract. Cavallero was voted the World’s Top Weather Presenter at the International Weather Festival held in Paris in 2002, and has been forecasting since the late 1980’s.

Incidentally, if you’ve always wanted to be a weather forecaster on the CBC and live in Calgary, that very job just got posted on the CBC jobs site this morning.

The backstory: A CBC reporter made a call to City Hall asking for comment on a detail in the yet-to-be-broadcast throne budget speech.

The Journal’s Graham Thomson writes:

It wasn’t a major breach. The CBC did not broadcast details of the budget before the finance minister spoke — something that private broadcasters have done at least once in the past with no reaction from the government.

And nobody, I believe, made a killing on the stock market armed with knowledge the city of Calgary would be getting money to hire 41 more police officers this year.

Nevertheless, there was a breach of budget security and the CBC admitted its mistake. The crown corporation promised to improve its internal procedures so a breach won’t happen again but the government wasn’t satisfied and demanded the identity of the reporter who broke the embargo.

The government then followed up by banning the whole corporation from future lockups.

The CBC certainly deserves a slap for breaking the embargo, but you have to wonder if the government is making its point by killing a gnat with a sledgehammer. The action looks a bit vindictive, especially when you consider the CBC isn’t exactly on the government’s Christmas card list.

Wha?! No Christmas cards?!

Tony Burman was recently with CBC News until, according to a recent print article in Ryerson Review of Journalism, he clashed with CBC Vice-President of English services Richard Stursberg.

In an interview with InsideTheCBC.com shortly before his departure, Burman played down the idea of working for a private network:

It’s too early for me to shut any doors, but I doubt if there’s any possibility of me wanting to work for a commercial news organization in Canada. My tribal passions for CBC News are too strong. I respect CBC’s competitors but now is not the time for me to switch horses. However, there is a lot to private broadcasting than simply ‘news’ so I’m always open to stimulating, intriguing ideas and initiatives.

Burman’s job won’t be easy. A number of journalists have left Al-Jazeera recently amid claims of a revolt over working conditions. It is also facing a potential £1m discrimination case brought by the former English head of planning.

Former CBC host and journalist Avi Lewis went to the network last year to host a program about the U.S. election.

The show has commissioned 120 sketches, which calls for a lot of funny from Edmonton’s hottest comics and sketch comedy writers. It will air Thursdays at 7:30pm.

Star Choice is owned by Shaw Communications.

Losing CBC Saskatchewan was bad news for people like Doug Henry, a resident of Laporte, Sask., near the Alberta border, who was a regular CBC viewer until Star Choice cut the signal last Wednesday. “That was the only TV we had for years and years and years,” he said. “Surely they can find space for a local station.”

Many people in the province get CBC Saskatchewan on cable or directly off the airwaves, but for others, satellite TV has been the only option. The regional CBC service has similar offerings to other CBC channels but also includes local Saskatchewan news and the feature program Living Saskatchewan.

More: “CBC complains to CRTC after Sask. station taken off satellite” CBCnews.ca

Don Cherry stayed true to form on his debut performance on ESPN on Friday evening. The star anchor of Hockey Night in Canada called Detroit fans “rednecks”, which generated a bit of controversy south of the border.

Cherry explained that he considers rednecks to be Irish and Scottish Immigrants working in construction, who literally get red necks from their profession. Cherry himself fits into this category by his own admission, as he worked in construction in his youth.

Raters on the ESPN site gave Cherry close to five stars overall for his debut performance.

Mitts off, Yanks; he’s just on loan.

Fans of Da Vinci’s Inquest rejoice — a made for TV movie based on the series is coming to the CBC on June 14.

The movie “Quality of Life” will bring together series vets Mary Walsh, Hugh Dillon and Nicholas Campbell to solve a murder at a big city mayor’s conference.

Let’s hope that a UFC face-off between Nicholas Campbell and David Caruso is not far off.