(Ottawa) A few days after Pierre Poilievre’s triumph as leader of the Conservative Party, the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, Catherine Tait, sent him a letter to congratulate him and invite him to a meeting. The opposition leader, one of whose flagship commitments is to stop funding CBC, refused, arousing the ire of the boss of the public broadcaster.
In a letter dated September 16, 2022, in a courteous tone, Catherine Tait congratulates the politician on his victory, an “impressive achievement”, and invites him to discuss with her the mandate of the Crown corporation, citing its “value” in “the era of increased polarization in the country”.
The weeks passed. And the tone of the subsequent missive changed drastically.
It is that Catherine Tait was refused; the leader’s office declined his invitation.
“Since during your leadership campaign you publicly pledged to ‘defund CBC’, I would have hoped that spending time understanding the organization might have been helpful,” reads the letter dated November 29, 2022. , that The Press obtained under the Access to Information Act.
The CEO appointed in 2018 goes on to decry the practices of the Conservative Party.
Your party continues to send out mass emails and advertise on Twitter and Facebook, falsely accusing CBC journalists of being biased, and using the promise of “defunding” to raise funds.
CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Catherine Tait in a letter to Pierre Poilievre on November 29, 2022
Arguing that these salvos ignore “the extent and the value” of which Canadians benefit thanks to the public broadcaster and “the consequences” that would result from an amputation of its budget, the leader concludes by saying that she hopes that her recipient will reconsider her decision. to sulk a meeting.
CBC, “mouthpiece” of the Liberals
The Conservative leader’s office confirmed that he did not wish to honor the invitation. When The Press asked for details on the motives behind the decision, one provided a link leading to a tweet posted on February 7 on the account of Pierre Poilievre.
“CBC’s overpaid CEO doesn’t even try to pretend she’s impartial. She launched a partisan attack on me, proving my claim that the 1.2 billion crown corporation is a mouthpiece for Justin Trudeau,” it read.
This message caps an image which highlights quotes from Catherine Tait, who had earlier delivered to the Globe and Mail. “There’s a lot of CBC bashing going on right now – somewhat fueled by the Leader of the Opposition,” she said at the time.
“I think they have the feeling that CBC is a spokesperson for the Liberal government,” also ventured to say the head of CBC / Radio-Canada.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Catherine Tait
The Leader of the Opposition’s tweet contains a link to a petition promoting the promise that usually stirred crowds the most during his Conservative Party leadership race: cut off funding to CBC.
When they came to power, the Liberals turned on the tap to replenish the coffers of the broadcaster, after years of cuts under Stephen Harper’s government. Additional investments of $675 million over five years have been granted.
The Trudeau government then appointed Catherine Tait to head CBC/Radio-Canada.
Last Friday, the office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, did not respond to an email from The Press about Pierre Poilievre’s decision to turn his nose up at a meeting with the CEO.
Flayed neutrality
Full professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, Geneviève Tellier believes that Pierre Poilievre was “faithful to his character” by refusing to see Catherine Tait.
[M. Poilievre] perhaps also wanted to show firmness at his base, to show that he wouldn’t change his mind. But at the same time, we ask if it will be his style if he becomes prime minister, that he will not want to talk to anyone who does not share his ideas.
Geneviève Tellier, Full Professor at the School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
It remains that the output of Mme Tait was not the happiest, judges the political scientist: “You have to show a certain neutrality, a non-partisanship. And getting involved in public and political debate may not help CBC/Radio-Canada’s cause. »
According to what Pierre Poilievre has pointed out so far, public aid to Radio-Canada would not go by the wayside like that of its Anglophone counterpart. In press briefings, he moreover garlanded CBC journalists more than those of Radio-Canada.
With the collaboration of William Leclerc and Vincent Larouche, The Press