CMG is pleased that the Governor in Council has heard our concerns about CBC/Radio-Canada’s obligations to provide quality local news to Canadians across the country no matter where they live, on the platforms they access. The Governor in Council, on the recommendation of Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, has issued an order in council granting CMG’s appeal, along with the appeals of many other concerned Canadians, to refer back CBC/Radio-Canada license renewal decision to the CRTC for reconsideration.
“We are grateful that the order specifically states ‘that it is material to the reconsideration and hearing that the Commission consider how to ensure that, as the national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation continue to make a significant contribution to the creation, presentation, and dissemination of local news,’” says CBC Branch President Kim Trynacity. “The watering down of the CBC’s obligations to provide news and information, and the multiple impacts of that decision on service to the public including to Canadians living in metropolitan centres, on quality news at CBC overall, and on jobs, were at the heart of our petition to the Governor in Council.”
Trynacity acknowledged however she is disappointed the Governor in Council’s order does not mention Tandem, another concern raised in CMG’s appeal.
In commenting on the order to reconsider, CMG President Carmel Smyth said she strongly hopes the Governor in Council’s order of referring back CRTC Decision 2022-165 regarding CBC License renewal will result in a strengthening of CBC/Radio-Canada’s news services, and news services in general, given the public broadcaster’s central role in the Canada’s news media ecosystem. “In our appeal, we emphasized the importance CBC’s obligations to provide local news to the public in all communities, large or small, and we appreciate that the CRTC decision will be reviewed as it significantly weakened that service,” Smyth said. “This is important to CBC’s news services, but also to news services in general as CBC news is a critical part of the news landscape in Canada.”
Smyth added that “CMG looks forward to being part of the new process, both to advocate for quality news in all communities and all platforms, and to re-affirm our support for the significant progress the CRTC made in CRTC-Decision 2022-165 in terms of diversity and inclusion requirements within CBC/Radio-Canada workforce and programming.”
Click here to read CMG’s full appeal.