At the heart of several controversies over the years, the big boss of CBC / Radio-Canada, Catherine Tait, will be reappointed at the head of the public broadcaster, but for a shortened mandate of 18 months which surprises some observers.
“We are in a period of transition. […] Radio-Canada’s mandate is being modernized. Until then, M.me Tait has agreed to accompany us, to lend us his expertise and his love for Radio-Canada,” said Federal Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez on Thursday, confirming the news first heard by The duty.
Appointed in 2018 by the Liberal government for five years, Ms.me Tait will therefore remain president and CEO of the state-owned company until January 2025. Mr. Rodriguez, however, remained vague on the reasons why this next term will be shorter.
The minister stresses that his government is already preparing to find a successor to Catherine Tait. Until then, Pablo Rodriguez wants some continuity at the head of the public broadcaster, while Bill C-18 on revenue sharing between the giants of the Web and the media must come into force.
In addition to Catherine Tait herself, the broadcaster’s board chairman, Michael Goldbloom, and the Friends of Broadcasting lobby group welcomed the news.
A surprising renewal
The Trudeau government’s decision, however, surprised industry observers, who paint a mixed picture of Ms.me Tait.
If he understands the argument of stability, Patrick White, professor of journalism at UQAM, sees in this decision a certain disavowal on the part of the government. “Giving him an 18-month mandate is to say that we do not trust him for another five-year mandate,” he drops. He also doubts the ability of M.me Tait to be able to advance any file in such a short time.
“It puts her in a difficult situation. People will count the days before his departure, it may affect his ability to have authority, ”adds Alain Saulnier, former director of information at Radio-Canada.
According to these two experts, this renewal is not a good idea. “The record of the last five years is a complete disappointment. […] The list of bad moves is rather long,” said Mr. Saulnier.
After taking office in his ” job dream” in July 2018, Catherine Tait has set herself up as the architect of a major shift in favor of diversity, both on screen and among employees. Its detractors have rather seen it as an “obsession” with questions of identity.
All dressed in orange, Catherine Tait, for example, led a march in downtown Ottawa in September 2022 to honor the victims of residential schools for Aboriginals. She had previously invited journalists from the ICI Ottawa-Gatineau newsroom to join, creating unease among these professionals subject to a code of ethics that prohibits activism.
“It has undermined the image of CBC/Radio-Canada’s independence from political powers by giving the impression that the broadcaster is stuck to government guidelines,” criticizes Mr. Saulnier.
Controversy after controversy
And that’s far from the only controversy Catherine Tait has gotten herself into. The one who runs newsrooms across the country has been the subject of embarrassing reports in private media and has come under heavy criticism.
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, goes so far as to qualify the public broadcaster under his leadership as “liberal propaganda”, and proposes the “defunding” of its English-speaking part, CBC. In a very unusual outing, Mme Tait hit back at the Leader of the Opposition last February, calling his position a “slogan” aimed at soliciting donations.
During her mandate, Catherine Tait also took the wrong way hundreds of journalists, producers, ex-employees and ex-senior executives of Radio-Canada who signed a petition in 2020 to denounce a practice of “disguised advertising” in journalism in a service called Tandem. This form of advertising still exists.
In 2022, dozens of journalists joined their voices to Céline Galipeau, Patrice Roy, Alain Gravel or Marie-Maude Denis to ask her not to apologize for the multiple radio mentions of the title of the book. white niggers of america. Instead, the company issued an apology, as requested by the federal regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
“The gap that has been created between Radio-Canada and CBC is significant. The two solitudes are greater than ever,” worries Professor White.
This is without mentioning the other challenges that Mr.me Tait will have to deal with: upcoming budget cuts, conservative threats to defund its activities, attacks from web giants… our society, ”believes Mr. Saulnier, judging the public broadcaster at a crossroads.