TORONTO and MONTREAL – The CBC has upped the ante in its battle with Quebecor.
Quebecor's media outlets have been unrelenting in their criticism of the CBC, complaining of a lack of transparency at the public broadcaster, which has been forced to deal with hundreds of requests made by Quebecor under the Access To Information regulations. The CBC claims it can protect some competitively sensitive information. Quebecor has taken the position that because it's federally funded, it must divulge just about everything.
However, on the eve of Quebecor Inc. president and CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau’s appearance in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, (at which CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein appeared on Tuesday), about the CBC and the ATI Act, the Corp unveiled a new page on its website accusing the Montreal-based media giant of using more than half a billion dollars in public subsidies of its own and “its dominant position in protected industries to make record profits”. Yet unlike the CBC, the posting continues, Quebecor is not accountable to Canadian taxpayers.
Reads the CBC page:
* We report to Parliament through our Corporate Plan, Annual Report and Committee appearances.
* We report to the CRTC through regulatory filings and license renewals;
* We report to the Auditor General of Canada who reviews our books every year and who conducts a special audit every five to ten years;
* We report to the Board of Directors, which is appointed by government to ensure that the Corporation manages its resources effectively.
* We report to Canadians through the posting on our website of the cost of meals, flights, and hotels. We also post details of audits, Board meetings, quarterly financial reports, and over 27,000 pages of information released under ATI. See for yourself here.
The ‘pubcaster also claims that Péladeau “has sent over a dozen letters to the Prime Minister and others in government to complain that Radio-Canada does not spend enough money advertising in his newspapers”. It's also worth noting that Quebecor's TVA and Radio-Canada compete heavily for advertising dollars in Quebec as the number one and two TV outlets in the province.
“For more than three years, Quebecor has been using its newspapers, and more recently, its SunNews Network TV license to pursue a campaign against CBC/Radio-Canada”, continues the CBC posting.
The Sun News Network, in association with Quebecor’s chain of newspapers, have featured a regular series entitled 'CBC Money Drain'.
Quebecor fired back a reply Wednesday evening, saying that it is “bewildered by the unprecedented attack” and questioned the CBC’s motives and timing.
"The unprecedented gravity of today's actions reveals the shameless arrogance that characterizes the practices of the state broadcaster's upper management and demonstrates the need to end the growing prejudice that these practices have been causing for far too long to the Canadian broadcasting system and its players”, Péladeau said in the statement. “These actions should serve as the catalyst for reflection on the part of parliamentarians regarding the abuses of the state broadcaster's management."
The statement also asked CBC/Radio-Canada to “immediately retract itself and remove without delay the false and malicious information contained in its communication”, and noted that it has forwarded this matter to its legal counsel for further consideration.
Should make for an interesting committee appearance by M. Péladeau on Thursday (8:45 a.m.). Watch it on CPAC or surf back to Cartt.ca later on for our take.
– Lesley Hunter
