Category: CBC

600-1,200 CBC job cuts expected
The CBC needs to “stop chasing revenues and eyeballs,” says the minister responsible for the public broadcaster.
In a wide-ranging interview with Sun Media, Heritage Minister James Moore also said CBC layoffs were nearly certain and expected 600 to 1,200 people across the country would lose their jobs.
But the minister said the CBC could trim some fat without sacrificing local programming. He suggested the CBC had many assets to sell that “would not have any impact on the public broadcaster in any way.”
The Conservative government is giving the CBC $1.1 billion in funding, but is refusing to help offset the public broadcaster’s expected budget shortfall of $65 million.
The CBC had requested help obtaining a line of credit to pay for layoff packages, but the government refused.
“I think the CBC has the capacity to do things within the envelope of the financial capacity that they have,” said Moore.
A senior government official suggested the CBC could sell land it owns in Montreal or some of its real estate and lease needed floor-space back.
CBC spokesman Marco Dube said the Crown corporation was worried it would not be allowed to keep money from the sale of its assets. Any assets sold over $4 million must be approved by cabinet.
Moore said the government would only have a problem if the CBC suggested cutting services such as French radio in Vancouver or English services in Quebec City.
The minister said the public broadcaster should return to its mandate of showing Canadian content in a multitude of platforms instead of being a “taxpayer-supported competitor to private broadcasters.”
He added that in an ideal world the CBC would be funded similarly to the BBC, which gets a direct yearly subsidy from viewers, but said that would require substantial changes to the Broadcasting Act.
Ian Morrison, the spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, applauded Moore’s comments, but feared the minister wasn’t controlling the purse-strings.
“The concern is about the gap between his words and others in the government,” said Morrison.
Meanwhile, the CBC announced yesterday Judy Maddren, the voice of its morning news program World Report, will be leaving on March 27.

Canadian public broadcaster slammed over U.S. fare
TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) ñ Even as the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s top brass hold two days of strategy meetings in Ottawa, the public broadcaster is continuing to come under fire for scheduling too much American fare in primetime.
Federal Heritage Minister James Moore was asked during a Sunday night TV show appearance in Quebec for his view on the current level of U.S. programing on the CBC schedule.
“Frankly, I can tell you I don’t like it when I see the CBC canceling Canadian content, and we see ‘Jeopardy!’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune,'” Moore told the CBC/Radio Canada talk show “Tout le Monde en Parle.”
Last week, the CBC, which acquired the two U.S. game shows last year, canceled or put on hiatus two lifestyle series, “Fashion File” and “Steve and Chris.”
Moore’s comments came as the pubcaster attempts to address a growing shortfall in TV advertising revenue during the recession, a gap that Ottawa said it will not help close with new public money.
Among the revenue-raising measures being considered at the two-day senior management meeting is the possible introduction of more U.S. fare onto the schedule as a way of subsidizing Canadian content production.
But Stephen Waddell, national executive director of performers union the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, said the CBC should instead cut back sharply on American fare to distinguish itself from private-sector rivals.
“Clearly, (Moore) has been listening to us. He’s saying the CBC cannot sustain itself in terms of being a viable public broadcaster if it continues down this road as a commercial/public broadcaster,” Waddell said.
Ian Morrison, a spokesman for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, which represents 50,000 domestic TV viewers, said the CBC’s revenue shortfall springs equally from the recession and from the public broadcaster’s overpayment for American game shows that did not meet “rosy” sales projections.
“For the minister to say the CBC shouldn’t be buying American shows … that’s a shot across the bow,” Morrison said.
The CBC senior management meeting wraps Tuesday.
Executives at the CBC were not available for comment.

Minister suggests Ottawa open to CBC radio ads
Alarms went off this week for Canadian culture watchdogs when Heritage Minister James Moore opened the door to the possibility of ads on CBC Radio as a solution to the national broadcaster’s deepening financial crisis.
In response to questions by NDP heritage critic Charlie Angus during Monday’s Commons heritage committee session, Moore said, “Commercial advertising is an option that has been talked about for some time. I would frankly consider anything so long as the end result is to have a strong national public broadcaster.”
Moore added that the while the Harper government has not discussed commercializing the national radio service with CBC/Radio Canada management, “we are very conscious of the needs of the CBC and the pressures that they’re facing. I would certainly work with them on any option that they think would work to best serve their mandate.
“CBC has (been under) a lot of pressure (to take on) commercial advertising. We’re working with (CBC president and CEO) Hubert Lacroix and people at CBC in order to really get a full sense of the scale of the problems that they have.”
Airing commercials on CBC Radio One and Radio Two is not being considered “at present,” Marco DubÈ, CBC’s corporate director of media relations and issues management, told the Star.
“But we see the minister’s openness with respect to addressing our financial situation and his concern with keeping a strong national broadcaster in place,” DubÈ said.
Supporters of the federally supported, commercial-free radio network see Moore’s remarks as an open invitation to CBC management to consider bolstering revenue with advertising.
“It’s well known the Prime Minister has always been hostile to the concept of public broadcasting,” said Ian Morrison, spokesperson for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a broadcast watchdog group.
“Decision-making in the Harper government is centralized. A cone of silence has surrounded this issue since May 19, 2004, when Harper raised the possibility of commercializing Radio Two.
“Ministers don’t wing it on policy issues. That Mr. Moore would consider approving commercials on CBC Radio came powerfully to our attention. He may have blurted out more than he intended.
“If the government and the CBC are considering this, they can expect a firestorm of protest,” Morrison warned.
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting recently published news of a secret plan by the Harper Conservatives to cut $200 million from CBC’s parliamentary allocation.
Recent big-budget, long-term U.S. programming acquisitions by CBC Television, and the recession-driven decline in advertising, have pushed the corporation into a $100-million hole, Morrison said.
“Fully commercializing Radio One and Radio Two would generate $95 million in revenue. That’s a very convenient figure and the minister seems to be suggesting a convenient solution.
“There’s no doubt senior CBC management is under severe pressure. But why should CBC’s radio audience pay for the sins of CBC-TV management?”

Hey Mr. President, listen to this
Yes, “American Woman” made the list. So did others you’d expect, like Stompin’ Tom’s “The Hockey Song,” and some you might not, like Parachute Club’s “Rise Up.”
Canadians have chosen 49 songs for President-elect Barack Obama’s playlist that help define this country north of the 49th parallel. The list was compiled by more than 130,000 votes over two weeks by listeners of CBC’s Radio 2.
“This is a unique and diverse list that represents a wide variety of artists and songs, both historic and current,” says Denise Donlon, executive director of English radio. Tops in jazz was Oscar Peterson’s “Hymn to Freedom”; Glenn Gould’s “Goldberg Variations” was top of the classical heap; Rush’s “Closer to the Heart” was No. 1 among pop/rock, urban or country songs; and Gilles Vigneault’s “Mon pays” was the favourite francophone tune.
The complete list is below. You can also visit the Web page cbc.ca/obamasplaylist, where the songs can be bought through iTunes.
In alphabetical order, by first letter of the band or artist name:
Arcade Fire, “Rebellion (Lies)”
Barenaked Ladies, “If I Had $1,000,000”
Beau Dommage, “La complainte du phoque en Alaska”
Ben Heppner, “We’ll Gather Lilacs”
Bruce Cockburn, “Wondering Where the Lions Are”
Buffy Sainte-Marie, “Universal Soldier”
Daniel BÈlanger, “RÍver mieux”
Daniel Lanois, “Jolie Louise”
Daniel Lavoie, “J’ai quittÈ mon Óle”
Diana Krall, “Departure Bay”
Gilles Vigneault, “Mon pays”
Glenn Gould, “Goldberg Variations”
Gordon Lightfoot, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”
Gordon Lightfoot, “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
Great Big Sea, “Ordinary Day”
Harmonium, “Pour un Instant”
Ian & Sylvia, “Four Strong Winds”
James Ehnes, “Barber Violin Concerto”
Jesse Cook, “Mario Takes a Walk”
Joni Mitchell, “Both Sides Now”
Joni Mitchell, “A Case of You”
Karkwa, “Oublie pas”
k.d. lang, “Hallelujah”
Leonard Cohen, “Democracy”
Leonard Cohen, “Suzanne”
Malajube, “MontrÈal -40∞C”
Marie-Jo ThÈrio, “…vangeline”
Marjan Mozetich, “Affairs of the Heart”
Measha Brueggergosman, “I’m Going Up a Yonder”
Mes AÔeux, “DÈgÈnÈrations”
Michael BublÈ, “Home”
Moe Koffman, “Swingin’ Shepherd Blues”
Neil Young, “Rockin’ in the Free World”
Neil Young, “Helpless”
Oscar Peterson Trio, “Hymn to Freedom”
Oscar Peterson, “Place St. Henri (from Canadiana Suite)”
Parachute Club, “Rise Up”
Raymond LÈvesque, “Quand les hommes vivront d’amour”
Rush, “Closer to the Heart”
Sam Roberts, “The Canadian Dream”
Shad, “Brother (Watching)”
Stan Rogers, “Northwest Passage”
Stompin’ Tom Connors, “The Hockey Song”
The Arrogant Worms, “Canada’s Really Big”
The Guess Who, “American Woman”
The Rankin Family, “Rise Again”
The Tragically Hip, “Wheat Kings”
The Tragically Hip, “Bobcaygeon”
The Weakerthans, “One Great City!

CBC time-travel comedy relives 90’s
TORONTO – If only she knew then what she knows now, things could have turned out so differently.
So begins the quirky time-travelling series “Being Erica,” an hour-long dramedy that follows the neverending growing pains of thirty-something underachiever Erica Strange.
Fired from her mediocre job, dumped by her Lavalife boyfriend and berated by her family for her string of failures, Erica traces her woes to mistakes made in her past.
She’s offered a second chance to get things right when her mysterious new therapist actually sends her back in time to relive the moments she regrets most.
But despite the sci-fi leanings, the show is much more than its “Back To The Future” premise, insists star Erin Karpluk, noting that each episode delves into universal neuroses over friends, family and relationships.
“The time-travel element is there more as catalyst for her learning these lessons and going back in time,” says the bubbly Karpluk, who starred in the 2005 comedy-drama “Godiva’s.”
“I’m hoping that people identify with her because I think anyone, regardless of age, sex, race, class, gender, has regrets. I think there are times in everyone’s life where they wish that they could go back and have a do-over.”
A great deal of the show’s charm is the hearty embrace of each year that’s portrayed, says Karpluk, who’s forced to don outrageouly dated hairstyles and fashions each week.
The CBC series kicks off Monday with Erica thrown back into high school, circa early 1990s – and the “90210” fashions and Shannen Doherty bangs are enough to give anyone who lived through that era a shameful dose of regret. The hit-laden soundtrack helps set the tone with past gems by Nirvana and Fine Young Cannibals.
Later episodes include one set in the Y2K era – with Erica dolled up like “Sex and The City” fashionista Carrie Bradshaw – and one set in the 1970s, before Karpluk’s character was born.
The clever premise also means the misfit heroine is continually sent on a rollercoaster of emotions through youthful traumas and life lessons – other episodes see Erica relive the death of her brother, the loss of her virginity (involving sex in a canoe), and what she recalls as her perfect day.
“And you think that (perfect day) would be fun but as a 32-year-old woman in a 17-year-old body it becomes a lot more complicated than she had originally hoped,” says Karpluk, whose mysterious therapist is played by Michael Riley of “This is Wonderland” fame.
Even though the slick “Being Erica” has yet to officially air, CBC programming executive Kirstine Layfield says the ABC-owned cable channel Soapnet picked it up for broadcast in the United States while BBC Worldwide picked up international rights to the series.
Karpluk says it’s a smart show that should have wide appeal.
“It never wraps up in a neat little bow, it’s never like, she’s learned not to be bullied and that’s it for the rest of her life. Or not to care what people think about her because that’s not what life is,” says Karpluk, originally from Jasper, Alta.
“Life is very messy and awkward…. You can’t change the past, and in her situation, even if theoretically you can change the past, you still can’t change the past. But what she learns is that she can change the present by making smart choices and shaping her futu re.”
“Being Erica” airs on CBC-TV on Monday.

Kids in the Hall returning to CBC
TORONTO – The Kids in the Hall are returning to the CBC.
Comedian Dave Foley says the five-member troupe is writing an eight-episode miniseries for the public broadcaster.
The show would have the quirky comics playing a multitude of roles and feature an ongoing narrative.
“We’re going to start writing that very soon,” Foley said recently from the Gemini Awards, where he presented an award at a glitzy bash honouring the best in Canadian drama, variety and comedy TV.
“It’ll be an eight-episode arc with a narrative running through it and we will play all the characters but it won’t be sketch, it’ll be a single narrative miniseries. Probably the closest thing to it will probably be something like (the defunct cult British series) ‘League of Gentlemen,’ which I think was brilliant. So I hope it will be close to that.”
The project is tentatively titled, “Death Comes to Town,” and would serve as a long-awaited return by the Toronto-based group to the CBC.
That was where the improv troupe shot to fame in the late ’80s and early ’90s with their sketch comedy show, “The Kids In the Hall,” winning a dedicated fanbase that spilled into the U.S. when the series, produced by “Saturday Night Live”‘s Lorne Michaels, aired on CBS.
Their ludicrous characters and surreal worlds included Mark McKinney’s sex-crazed chicken lady, Bruce McCulloch’s sexist Cabbage Head, Scott Thompson’s gay socialite Buddy Cole, and Kevin McDonald and Foley’s insane Sizzler Sisters.
After the show went off the air in 1994, each member went on to pursue independent projects in Canada and the United States, with McKinney and McCulloch landing on “Saturday Night Live” and carving niches as sought-after TV writers. McDonald and Thompson went on to score memorable cameos in a slew of sitcoms while Foley’s endeavours included a starring role in the long-running series “NewsRadio.”
The gang reunited earlier this year for a cross-Canada comedy tour that had them revive their beloved sketch characters.
Most recently, Foley popped up on the Sally Field nighttime soap opera, “Brothers and Sisters,” playing a gay man.
“Yes, it was my return to homosexuality,” joked Foley, who also played a gay man on the defunct sitcom “Will and Grace.”
These days, Foley said he spends much of his time “hanging out as a stage dad” since his five-year-old daughter has launched a blossoming acting career.
He notes that she’s currently working on a movie with action superstar Jackie Chan, and in recent months did a web series, a soap opera and a pilot for Fox.
“I’m basically just living in her very tiny shadow,” he said.
He said the Kids are also thinking about hitting the big screen with a feature film.
“As a group, we’re still talking about doing a feature as well but first we have to wait ’til everyone who ever saw ‘Brain Candy’ is dead,” sighed Foley, referring to their critically panned 1996 feature.

CBC defends itself against report on expenses
Canada’s public broadcaster says it takes the management of taxpayers’ money “very seriously” and a recent report of overspending by one of its executives is largely a distortion of the truth by some of the CBC’s competitors.
Timothy Casgrain, the chairman of CBC’s board of directors, said the Crown corporation has taken several steps this year to strengthen transparency and the approval process for expenses incurred by staff and executives.
To that end, the travel and hospitality expenses of all senior management are posted on CBC websites. Additionally, the expenses of CBC/Radio-Canada president Hubert Lacroix, as well as Casgrain, are now subject to scrutiny by the audit committee of the CBC board of directors.
“The people who work at this corporation are mindful of the need to manage public resources responsibly in order to maximize the effectiveness of the services Canadians expect us to provide,” Casgrain said.
His comments were made in a letter sent Friday to Heritage Minister James Moore, who two days earlier had sent his own letter to CBC demanding that it outline what measures were being taken by the corporation to “ensure the highest level of accountability to taxpayers.”
Moore’s letter came on the heels of a Sun Media report that claimed documents obtained through access to information laws showed the CBC’s executive vice-president for French services, Sylvain Lafrance, claimed almost $80,000 in expenses for theatre tickets, meals and travel in 2006.
“I am sure that you are sensitive to the fact that, at a time of fiscal restraint, when Canadians are struggling to maintain their jobs and savings, this sort of reported excess does not sit well with them,” Moore wrote in a letter addressed to Casgrain.
Total includes corporate expenses: Casgrain
The report, according to Casgrain, was taken out of context and paints “a totally distorted picture of the expenses of one of our most effective executives.”
“Some of the items mentioned are expenses incurred by M. Lafrance in the conduct of his duties, while others are corporate expenses of French services for which he is responsible. That distinction was lost in the media reports,” Casgrain wrote.
He said that while the CBC is mindful of its financial responsibility to the Canadian public, the public nature of its operations makes the corporation particularly vulnerable to attacks from its competitors.
He noted the CBC has received more than 150 access to information requests this year ó far more than those received by other Crown corporations ó and that the bulk of these requests have come from two sources.
CBC was added to the list of agencies subject to access to information laws after the Conservative government came into power in 2006.
Casgrain also noted that Lafrance, as well as CBC/Radio-Canada, are currently the targets of legal action initiated by Quebecor Inc., which owns the Sun newspaper chain and Le Journal de MontrÈal.
Lacroix sent a memo to the entire corporation Friday detailing ways the public broadcaster intends to reduce costs in light of the recent economic downturn in Canada.
Lacroix’s letter says the CBC will:
Review all plans for capital expenditures to determine whether they can be deferred or cancelled.
Review all new hires on a case-by-case basis at the vice-presidential level.
Significantly reduce expenditures for travel, hospitality, overtime and in other areas.
Lacroix said that more details and guidelines will be available from CBC managers shortly.

CBC-TV’s Henry Champ bids an emotional goodbye
Veteran CBC correspondent Henry Champ bade an emotional farewell to television viewers on air Friday morning, as the Manitoban reporter retired after a journalism career spanning more than four decades.
As his last day approached, Champ said, his thoughts frequently returned to “the marvellous contact that I had with Canadians all my life.”
“When you’re in television, it’s kind of special because people see you and they think they know you, and they come up and talk to you frequently,” he said.
“Occasionally people will walk down the streets in Washington ó who are visiting from Canada ó and they’ll spot me and we’ll have wonderful conversations. That was the best part of the job.”
Though he began his journalism career as a print reporter in Manitoba, Champ is best known for his many years in television.
He spent 15 years at CTV, serving as an investigative reporter at W5 and as a news correspondent and bureau chief in Washington, London and Montreal. During that time, he was also among the last correspondents to leave Vietnam during the fall of Saigon and was among the first Canadian journalists admitted into the People’s Republic of China.
‘Newspaperman in Brandon’
He later moved to NBC News, where he spent 10 years covering politics from European bureaus and in Washington.
In 1993, Champ joined CBC, where his jobs have ranged from being part of the anchor team of CBC Morning News to his most recent post as CBC Newsworld’s Washington correspondent.
On Friday, Champ hearkened back to getting his start in journalism as a “newspaperman in Brandon” in 1960.
“I was making $191 a month, and I remember thinking to myself Ö that if I could be called a good journeyman reporter by the time I was 45 ó by my colleagues ó that would be a wonderful career. And I think I made it,” he said, his voice breaking.
“I hope people understand that I’m crying not because I’m sad, but just because it was a hell of a ride and every minute was enjoyable.”
Champ has accepted a three-year term as chancellor with his alma mater, Brandon University, which in 2005 recognized him with an honorary doctor of laws degree.
Though Champ said he’s “looking forward to a wonderful retirement,” his new chancellor post, working with youth in Washington, and spending more time on his farm in Maryland, he will still have a hand in journalism.
“It’s not going to end, because I’m still going to write my column for CBCNews.ca,” he said.
“Occasionally people will ask me something, and maybe I can give them an answer or two.”

Sick days cost CBC $15M
Sick days and short-term disability leave are costing the taxpayer-funded CBC over $15 million annually in lost productivity.
Documents obtained through Access to Information reveal that in 2006-07 the CBC lost $15.3 million as a result of 68,000 sick days taken by the Crown corporation’s staff of just under 10,000 employees. That was up from $13.6 million in lost productivity the previous year.
“Although, as with many large organizations, the absentee rates and the costs seem to be rising generally the absentee rates at CBC do appear to be high and they certainly are of concern to us,” said CBC spokesman Jeff Keay.
In 2006-07, the CBC received $974 million from the federal government.
While the $15.3 million loss may seem staggering, when compared with the federal public service, the CBC has a better record.
According to Statistics Canada, federal employees missed an average of 9.2 days of work in 2007 because of illness but CBC employees only missed an average of 7.4 days.
While the numbers suggest CBC employees take fewer sick days than a federal government employees, when the numbers are broken down into staff for French and English CBC, they tell a different story.
Staff working at CBC French television missed 9.7 days of work in 2006-07 while CBC French radio staff missed 8.2 days of work.
This is in stark contrast to CBC’s English television staff that missed only six days of work that year and CBC’s English radio staff who missed even less at 5.9 days.
Keay said the CBC has been working with the unions which represent CBC employees to find out what they can do to cut back on the number of days employees miss each year.
Aside from general health, the CBC says Keay has recognized that as a news gathering organization its employees work in a high stress environment and are concentrating on the mental well-being of staff.
In 2005, the corporation conducted a survey of nearly half its staff and found that 44% were displaying symptoms of high-level psychological distress. Nine out of 10 said the distress was related to their work.
The survey also revealed a tension between staff and management and a culture where people failed to show mutual respect in the workplace.
Since that time, the CBC has been mandating that each employee attend a half-day “respect seminar” designed to improve relations between staff.

CBC won’t renew contracts with Don Murray, Patrick Brown
The CBC says it is not renewing the contracts of reporters Don Murray in London and Patrick Brown in Beijing.
Jeff Keay, spokesman for the public broadcaster, says “economic reasons” were behind the decision, but would not elaborate further.
The veteran newsmen had been working under part-time contracts since 2006.
Keay says their contracts are to expire next month and that the CBC is interested in establishing “an ongoing freelance relationship” with Murray and Brown.
He added that the affected bureaus would otherwise remain fully staffed.
They include reporters Michel Cormier in Beijing, Anthony Germain in Shanghai, and Ann McMillan and Adrienne Arsenault in London.
“The relationship remains to be defined, I think,” Keay said Thursday of the CBC’s relationship with Murray and Brown.
“We hope to see them on the air in future.”