Five months from the end of a mandate that she wishes to renew, the president and general manager of CBC/Radio-Canada, Catherine Tait, has decided to confront the leader of the official opposition, Pierre Poilievre, for his aversion towards the public service.
In an interview at Globe and Mail last week, the latter denounced the “Defund CBC” campaign organized by the Conservative Party. This is an online petition calling on people to support Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party policy to end Canadian government funding for CBC. Wasted money, he said. Taxpayers would be paying $1 billion unnecessarily to an institution that is biased against their party’s ideas. By thus taking a position, Catherine Tait seems to confirm the statements of the Conservative leader. What has stung the big boss of CBC / Radio-Canada?
This is the first time that a CBC/Radio-Canada executive has taken a public stand against a political party.
Moreover, it is the party which constitutes the official opposition and which could take power in the next election.
During the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien, the management of CBC/Radio-Canada, Presidents Veilleux and Manera remained neutral in the public arena, even when the Liberal government’s major budget cuts came to shake the finances of the public service. . Admittedly, President Tony Manera had resigned, but without specifying that it was in disagreement with the government. He will only do so later, well after his resignation.
The political sense of the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada does not seem to draw on the tradition of neutrality and independence of her predecessors. It’s very unfortunate.
Need we remind you that it was also Catherine Tait who last year invited her employees at the Ottawa station, including the journalists, to take part in a march in memory of the victims of residential schools for natives. It was, of course, a noble cause, but demonstrating for a cause is against CBC/Radio-Canada’s journalistic standards and practices. It hadn’t bothered her. Journalists, yes.
It was also Catherine Tait who let down the ombudsman for French services at Radio-Canada in this matter of the famous word that begins with “n”. She did not want to defend the conclusion of her ombudsman, who saw nothing wrong with the journalistic work of a columnist on a radio show. He had spoken on the air of the famous book by Pierre Vallières which sowed controversy. It therefore did not support its ombudsman, who is totally independent, and instead chose to force the French service of Radio-Canada to apologize to a complainant who had asked the CRTC to blame Radio-Canada for this column. It was she who forced the management of the French services to apologize, despite an obvious disagreement. Small consolation, it nevertheless authorized to appeal this decision of the CRTC which thus interfered in the programming of the public service and its editorial choices.
These pranks by the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada are contrary to the tradition of neutrality and independence of the institution. We will have to think twice before renewing his mandate.