Half of Sudbury Employees Facing Layoffs
Conway Fraser, a CBC Radio producer, warns that news coverage in the Sudbury area will be seriously affected by the layoffs.
Fraser and his colleagues protested the cuts on Friday in front of the CBC’s local office.
Fully half of the Sudbury staff are facing layoffs. The final decision on how deep the cuts will be won’t be made until the retirement incentive package runs its course.
Fraser told the Northern News “he felt as if he had been punched in the stomach,” when he heard about the cuts.
“We kind of thought our share would be a position or two based on the proportion,” he said.
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These cuts to the regions affect all Canadians. Losing half the staff of an already bare-bones newsroom has serious implications for the people of Northeastern Ontario. For some, the CBC is the only option for news. Yes, the station will remain open, but its effectiveness will be severely weakened. The CBC’s mandate to “reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions” is at risk.
Though services and jobs may be spared in other regions, these cuts are a turning point for the region of Northeastern Ontario. If we allow these cuts, we are opening the door for further regional slashing not only in other regions, but throughout the entire CBC.
Aw no…living in Ottawa, but considering how much useful news out of Sudbury I’ve been getting over the last few years, I’m hoping this gets reversed post-haste!
The cuts to CBC Radio in Sudbury and Thunder Bay are criminal. Northern Ontario is 90 percent of the province of Ontario!!!
Where’s the CBC Board of Directors in all this? How can they sit by and watch small, regional stations which have audience shares of 20-50% be destroyed like this? It goes against the CBC’s mandate. These cuts should have been shouldered proportionately across the country and not on the backs of small stations in northern Ontario and the East Coast. Hell, they closed one-person bureaus in northern Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan. One person bureaus….really? Was the real estate in Thompson too expensive? Seeing a trend here? Cuts were made in northern X, northern Y, and northern Z. Honestly, where is the Board of Directors in all this? Someone should be fired over this.