In November, through a House of Commons order paper, Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber requested salary and expense details for chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge, host George Stroumboulopoulos, president Hubert T. Lacroix and host Rick Mercer. Rathgeber also asked for specifics on foreign bureau expenses and wanted to know how many CBC employees earned more than $100,000 each year.
The answer: There are about 730 employees now earning more than six figures.
Citing the federal Privacy Act, Moore did not disclose salary or expense details for Mansbridge and Stroumboulopoulos. However, Lacroix is compensated at a rated fixed in accordance with the Broadcasting Act. This means that in 2011, Lacroix was in a salary bracket between $358,400 and $421,600.
Moore wrote the CBC does not provide Mansbridge or Stroumboulopoulos with a vehicle. But Lacroix’s company car (a 2011 Ford Taurus) had an annual operating cost of about $10,900.
With the federal government expected to cut annual spending, some Conservative MPs believe it’s time to reduce or end public funding for the CBC. The public broadcaster receives about $1.1 billion from the government each year.
Read the full story here.
cbcexposed is all about exposing the waste of the CBC ... over 1 billion dollars a year of taxpayer money funds the cbc and a lot of that taxpayer money is wasted.
Quebecor demands retraction and apology from CBC ...
Quebecor Media Inc. is stepping up its fight against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Montreal-based multimedia and broadcasting company headed by Pierre-Karl Péladeau issued a formal letter of notice Friday demanding the public broadcaster immediately remove from its website a text about Quebecor that it – Quebecor – claims is defamatory, deliberately misleading and malicious.
Quebecor, through its TVA private television network, is a major competitor of the CBC and takes issue with the $1-billion-a-year the public broadcaster gets in taxpayer funding.
Mr. Peladeau told the committee the access requests have been rebuffed with a series of delays, exorbitant research-fee demands, complaints and a dearth of information on how the CBC manages public funds.
Read the full story here.
The Montreal-based multimedia and broadcasting company headed by Pierre-Karl Péladeau issued a formal letter of notice Friday demanding the public broadcaster immediately remove from its website a text about Quebecor that it – Quebecor – claims is defamatory, deliberately misleading and malicious.
Quebecor, through its TVA private television network, is a major competitor of the CBC and takes issue with the $1-billion-a-year the public broadcaster gets in taxpayer funding.
Mr. Peladeau told the committee the access requests have been rebuffed with a series of delays, exorbitant research-fee demands, complaints and a dearth of information on how the CBC manages public funds.
Read the full story here.
Real people discussing the CBC ...
UNLESS otherwise noted, these submissions are to be considered unedited. The opinions expressed herein are those of the writers and not of The London Free Press.
- You are probably aware by now that the CBC is in the porn business. This is assinine. I urge you to have the CBC cease broadcasting porn. Also, this is good time to reduce funding to the CBC. Thanks for your time.
- It was with some surprise that I read our federal government has decided to continue subsidizing the CBC to the tune of $1.1 billion each year at least until 2015. This in a time of supposedly sharp cutbacks in an effort to get to a balanced budget.
- The CBC's mandate was to provide Canadian radio and television to all Canadians. It has NEVER met this mandate! I didn't get to see a CBC channel until 1974 when I moved to London. Did I move from some remote corner of the country?
CBC upset by its own programming ...
CBC president Hubert Lacroix is trying to suck and blow at the same time.
Lacroix is blasting Sun News Network, and threatening legal action, for daring to show a satirical video clip earlier this month.
The video in question juxtaposed CBC executive vice-president Kirstine Stewart talking about the wonders of CBC next to a pornographic program the state broadcaster used tax dollars to buy.
This video showed simply that while CBC is willing to claim high moral ground on all the wonderful things that it can do with taxpayer's money, they are also willing to show scenes of orgies and explicit sex in a show with no Canadian connection nor apparent artistic value.
So now CBC is threatening to sue.
They won't pull the program. No, they defend it as popular and a good value for taxpayers.
Read the full story here.
Lacroix is blasting Sun News Network, and threatening legal action, for daring to show a satirical video clip earlier this month.
The video in question juxtaposed CBC executive vice-president Kirstine Stewart talking about the wonders of CBC next to a pornographic program the state broadcaster used tax dollars to buy.
This video showed simply that while CBC is willing to claim high moral ground on all the wonderful things that it can do with taxpayer's money, they are also willing to show scenes of orgies and explicit sex in a show with no Canadian connection nor apparent artistic value.
So now CBC is threatening to sue.
They won't pull the program. No, they defend it as popular and a good value for taxpayers.
Read the full story here.
Ombudsman Rebukes CBC Radio-Canada’s Mideast Reporting ...
In a pointed rebuke of our public broadcaster CBC Radio-Canada and its Mideast correspondent Ginette Lamarche’s recent reporting on Israel, Radio-Canada’s Ombudsman, Pierre Tourangeau, this week upheld a series of five complaints filed by HonestReporting Canada about the network’s Mideast coverage.
Read the full story here.
Read the full story here.
Eric Margolis Immorally Equates Syrian Brutality with Israeli Humanitarianism ...
You’ve got to be pretty out there to equate Syria’s ongoing ruthless massacre of 6,000 of its own citizens, to the Israeli government’s responsibility to protect its populace from those who seek to exterminate them.
Leave it to Eric Margolis to be morally blinded by Syria’s lethal brutality and Israel’s painstaking and unprecedented efforts to avoid civilian casualties when targeting terrorists.
On the February 6 radio broadcast of the John Oakley Show on AM 640, Margolis equated Israel, which ranks as the most moral and ethical military in the world, to the Syrian regime, run by the “butcher” Basher Assad. A government that slaughters its own people, terrorizes its citizens, and tortures its own: men, women, and children alike.
Read the full story here.
Leave it to Eric Margolis to be morally blinded by Syria’s lethal brutality and Israel’s painstaking and unprecedented efforts to avoid civilian casualties when targeting terrorists.
On the February 6 radio broadcast of the John Oakley Show on AM 640, Margolis equated Israel, which ranks as the most moral and ethical military in the world, to the Syrian regime, run by the “butcher” Basher Assad. A government that slaughters its own people, terrorizes its citizens, and tortures its own: men, women, and children alike.
Read the full story here.
The CBC unveils fairly nifty new digital music service. But will any of us actually use it?
CBC launched its new online music service, simply: CBC Music. And with much hurrah and white wine, the service was unveiled at one of the 10th-floor studios at CBC HQ; the stage was decked out with sleek black scaffolding dotted with oversized neon-blue PLAY buttons, and flanked by two “interactive bars” where those in attendance (mostly CBC employees, industry types, and some press) could check out the new website. Caterers ferried around wine, sparkling water, and miniature duck tacos while PR reps with headsets and clipboards made sure everyone was where they should be.
CBC Music seems to want to create a little mini-Internet within the Internet, where users can do all these things while remaining within the confines of CBC’s site architecture and banner ads. For casual music fans or oldsters who use the Internet at the public library and call it “the e-mail,” this may be fine. But for seasoned web crawlers and cyberspace surfers who already know their way around the World Wide Web, it seems superfluous.
Then again, you’re paying for it. You might as well take it for a spin.
Read the whole story here.
CBC Music seems to want to create a little mini-Internet within the Internet, where users can do all these things while remaining within the confines of CBC’s site architecture and banner ads. For casual music fans or oldsters who use the Internet at the public library and call it “the e-mail,” this may be fine. But for seasoned web crawlers and cyberspace surfers who already know their way around the World Wide Web, it seems superfluous.
Then again, you’re paying for it. You might as well take it for a spin.
Read the whole story here.
CBC ‘cannot be immune from public scrutiny,’ Quebecor chief says ...
The head of Quebecor has unleashed a tirade against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, saying the public broadcaster has been deliberately withholding information requested by the reporters in his media chain.
He went on to accuse all other media organizations in Canada, including The Globe and Mail, CTV, the National Post, La Presse and The Canadian Press, of having entered into financial and journalistic arrangements with the public broadcaster that make it impossible for them to ask arm’s-length questions about the CBC.
In the case of The Globe, he said, the paper receives advertising money and profits from the sale of material to the CBC from the Canadian Press because it has a financial stake in the wire service.
Read the full story here.
He went on to accuse all other media organizations in Canada, including The Globe and Mail, CTV, the National Post, La Presse and The Canadian Press, of having entered into financial and journalistic arrangements with the public broadcaster that make it impossible for them to ask arm’s-length questions about the CBC.
In the case of The Globe, he said, the paper receives advertising money and profits from the sale of material to the CBC from the Canadian Press because it has a financial stake in the wire service.
Read the full story here.
Friends Don’t Let Friends Withhold Information ...
So the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (let’s just call them ‘Friends’) are a little upset with us for upturning some of their financial dealings with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). We sort of expected that.
In their response we were delighted to read that contrary what we had been told by the CBC, “All members of the Friends' Steering Committee gave explicit written permission to the CBC to release the requested information.”
This new information made our day, as we therefore expect the CBC to provide us with the 85 redacted pages from the Access to Information (ATI) documents.
We were quick to get on the phone with the CBC’s ATI department today to find out if we had been incorrectly informed, or to find out when we can receive the redacted information.
The CBC assured us that, “Names not included in the received documents did not give clear consent for disclosure.” In short, the CBC required explicit consent to disclose these people’s financial dealings, and did not receive it from everyone, contrary to what our Friends said. At least, the CBC doesn’t think that it did.
In short, somebody has some splainin’ to do.
To see the full story, click here.
In their response we were delighted to read that contrary what we had been told by the CBC, “All members of the Friends' Steering Committee gave explicit written permission to the CBC to release the requested information.”
This new information made our day, as we therefore expect the CBC to provide us with the 85 redacted pages from the Access to Information (ATI) documents.
We were quick to get on the phone with the CBC’s ATI department today to find out if we had been incorrectly informed, or to find out when we can receive the redacted information.
The CBC assured us that, “Names not included in the received documents did not give clear consent for disclosure.” In short, the CBC required explicit consent to disclose these people’s financial dealings, and did not receive it from everyone, contrary to what our Friends said. At least, the CBC doesn’t think that it did.
In short, somebody has some splainin’ to do.
To see the full story, click here.
Provided by taxpayers, CBC CEO gets a personal driver ...
Not only do we give CBC CEO Hubert Lacroix a very nice salary somewhere between $358,400 and $421,600, he also gets his own $34,000 – $56,500 paid chauffeur on our dime.
On top of his salary, Lacroix expensed just under $30,000 last year adding to the total of $180,000 in expenses since 2008:
“The expenses of the President and CEO are approved by the Chair of CBC/Radio-Canada,” say the documents. “They are also reviewed on a quarterly basis by CBC/Radio-Canada’s internal auditors."
CBC Reporter Neil MacDonald Closes Twitter Account Under Pressure ...
Neil MacDonald's "ammunition for attacks" against Israel are now in short supply. Following a complaint from his "detractors," MacDonald closed his CBC Twitter account.
We have gone on record, time and again with CBC management to express our view that Macdonald's reporting is not consistent with the CBC's policy guidelines which calls for accuracy, fairness, and journalistic neutrality.
MacDonald’s continued exploitation of his position at the CBC was on full public display in the following tweet he authored on his CBC Twitter account on January 5:
One can only imagine what Neil MacDonald had in mind when writing this tweet. Was he implying that Israelis frequently shoot at either Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese, or Syrians?
Read the full story here.
We have gone on record, time and again with CBC management to express our view that Macdonald's reporting is not consistent with the CBC's policy guidelines which calls for accuracy, fairness, and journalistic neutrality.
MacDonald’s continued exploitation of his position at the CBC was on full public display in the following tweet he authored on his CBC Twitter account on January 5:
One can only imagine what Neil MacDonald had in mind when writing this tweet. Was he implying that Israelis frequently shoot at either Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese, or Syrians?
Read the full story here.
CBC helps CSIS change the lead story from the Air India bombing to foreign espionage ...
The Canadian media are in an uproar over comments on CBC by Richard Fadden, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Fadden told interviewer Peter "Bilderberger" Mansbridge that CSIS is aware of municipal and provincial politicians who have come under the influence of foreign governments.
This will send reporters on a chase to find out which municipal politicians have accepted free trips to China.
Mansbridge didn't ask Fadden about MPs who've accepted free trips to Israel, Taiwan, and other countries.
Some cynics might wonder if Mansbridge himself was acting on behalf of a foreign government when he conducted a softball interview with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late May.
Lower-level CSIS and RCMP officials have raised the spectre of Chinese espionage in the past, most notably in the Project Sidewinder investigation, which was derailed by their superiors.
Read the full story here.
Fadden told interviewer Peter "Bilderberger" Mansbridge that CSIS is aware of municipal and provincial politicians who have come under the influence of foreign governments.
This will send reporters on a chase to find out which municipal politicians have accepted free trips to China.
Mansbridge didn't ask Fadden about MPs who've accepted free trips to Israel, Taiwan, and other countries.
Some cynics might wonder if Mansbridge himself was acting on behalf of a foreign government when he conducted a softball interview with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late May.
Lower-level CSIS and RCMP officials have raised the spectre of Chinese espionage in the past, most notably in the Project Sidewinder investigation, which was derailed by their superiors.
Read the full story here.
CBC salaries disclosed... sort of ..........
The CBC pays 730 staffers more than $100,000 in salary per year, but won't say who they are.
The CBC is also keeping mum about how much news anchor Peter Mansbridge and host George Stroumboulopoulos get paid.
"Their salary information is also protected in accordance with the federal Privacy Act," wrote Heritage Minister James Moore in response to written questions in the House of Commons.
The query came from a member of his own party.
"I am disappointed individuals who are on the public payroll ‹ and certainly these members of the CBC are - those salaries and expenses ought to be disclosed," said Brent Rathgeber, Conservative MP from Alberta.
Read the full story here.
The CBC is also keeping mum about how much news anchor Peter Mansbridge and host George Stroumboulopoulos get paid.
"Their salary information is also protected in accordance with the federal Privacy Act," wrote Heritage Minister James Moore in response to written questions in the House of Commons.
The query came from a member of his own party.
"I am disappointed individuals who are on the public payroll ‹ and certainly these members of the CBC are - those salaries and expenses ought to be disclosed," said Brent Rathgeber, Conservative MP from Alberta.
Read the full story here.
CBC: Fade to Black ...
The CBC move to become ultra-light in an effort to woo younger viewers and boost its ratings has been a dismal failure. The age of the average CBC audience has not declined appreciably. The audience numbers have not risen, especially in comparison to the gains made by CTV and Global since the rating system was changed. Shows like Little Mosque on the Prairie and Insecurity have served to turn loyal CBC viewers away from the network. The National’s weak efforts since it was revamped have served to cut anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the CBC News audience.
CBC TV, it seems, has finally lost its standing as an important Canadian institution. Twenty-five years of budget cuts and six years of management dumbing down the content have worked their magic to make CBC TV just another station, and an unpopular one at that. The fact that the CBC costs Canadians a billion dollars per year only serves to make citizens care more about the money and less about what the network has to offer.
Stephen Harper will not have to sell off the CBC, he won’t even have to do anything drastic. All he has to do is stand aside and let the CBC drift further and further into irrelevancy.
Full story here.
St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber's CBC questions go unanswered ...
Local MP Brent Rathgeber’s attempt to pry salary information out of the CBC was set back this week with an answer from the heritage minister that didn’t provide what he was looking for.
Rathgeber put a question on the order paper in December in a bid to get salary information for top CBC talent like Peter Mansbridge and George Stroumboulopoulos, as well as hospitality expenses and the cost of running foreign bureaus.
The answer he received from minister James Moore contained none of that information and only revealed that approximately 730 people at the CBC make more than $100,000.
Rathgeber said he was unimpressed with the answer and said it is simply a matter of transparency with public funds.
“I maintain that taxpayers who are the shareholders of a corporation have a right to know how that corporation spends its money.”
Read the full story here.
PS - what do YOU think? Do we have a right to know?
Rathgeber put a question on the order paper in December in a bid to get salary information for top CBC talent like Peter Mansbridge and George Stroumboulopoulos, as well as hospitality expenses and the cost of running foreign bureaus.
The answer he received from minister James Moore contained none of that information and only revealed that approximately 730 people at the CBC make more than $100,000.
Rathgeber said he was unimpressed with the answer and said it is simply a matter of transparency with public funds.
“I maintain that taxpayers who are the shareholders of a corporation have a right to know how that corporation spends its money.”
Read the full story here.
PS - what do YOU think? Do we have a right to know?
Moore can’t face Hard questions ...
Should the Canadian government use your tax dollars to get into the online pornography business?
There really is only one way to answer that question. Which is why the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation never asked permission — they just went ahead and did it.
But there are millions of porn websites on the Internet already, according to a good friend of mine. Why is the government of Canada spending tax money to add one more?
We don’t even know how much it costs, because the CBC says that’s a “journalistic secret.”
But what about James Moore? He’s the heritage minister, who is supposed to be responsible for the CBC.
Sun Media’s Kris Sims asked him about the porn series. But instead of taking responsibility for the CBC and the $1.1 billion a year in tax money he gives them, Moore turned on Sims for daring to ask him such a question, saying she was trying to drive up public anger against the CBC.
But it’s the job of independent journalists to hold the government to account for spending — and that includes the black hole called the CBC.
Read the full story here.
There really is only one way to answer that question. Which is why the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation never asked permission — they just went ahead and did it.
But there are millions of porn websites on the Internet already, according to a good friend of mine. Why is the government of Canada spending tax money to add one more?
We don’t even know how much it costs, because the CBC says that’s a “journalistic secret.”
But what about James Moore? He’s the heritage minister, who is supposed to be responsible for the CBC.
Sun Media’s Kris Sims asked him about the porn series. But instead of taking responsibility for the CBC and the $1.1 billion a year in tax money he gives them, Moore turned on Sims for daring to ask him such a question, saying she was trying to drive up public anger against the CBC.
But it’s the job of independent journalists to hold the government to account for spending — and that includes the black hole called the CBC.
Read the full story here.
CBC doubles down on pornography ...
In what kind of alternate reality universe is it OK for a government agency to use tax dollars to pay for pornography?
Apparently in the CBC’s world.
In case you haven’t heard, CBC’s French division has been posting a pornographic television show on one of their websites free for all to see. Let me be clear about something: The one thing the Internet does not need more of is porn.
CBC can’t even get away with claiming that this is somehow fulfilling their mandate to tell Canadians stories, to educate and enlighten.
This is a program purchased from a private company in France and posted online for free. French people having sex is not a Canadian story.
At a time when Canada has a national debt of close to $580 billion, a projected deficit for this year of close to $30 billion and every single department is facing budget cuts, surely CBC could think of better things to spend its money on. If they can’t, maybe it’s time to turn off the money taps.
Read the whole story here.
What do YOU think??
Apparently in the CBC’s world.
In case you haven’t heard, CBC’s French division has been posting a pornographic television show on one of their websites free for all to see. Let me be clear about something: The one thing the Internet does not need more of is porn.
CBC can’t even get away with claiming that this is somehow fulfilling their mandate to tell Canadians stories, to educate and enlighten.
This is a program purchased from a private company in France and posted online for free. French people having sex is not a Canadian story.
At a time when Canada has a national debt of close to $580 billion, a projected deficit for this year of close to $30 billion and every single department is facing budget cuts, surely CBC could think of better things to spend its money on. If they can’t, maybe it’s time to turn off the money taps.
Read the whole story here.
What do YOU think??
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting on the CBC Payroll ...
Amongst the many Access to Information (ATI) enquiries we make each year was this tidbit relating to the CBC. Our National Research Director, Derek Fildebrandt got to thinking about the leadership of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the group that advocates for more funding for the CBC. “What if these people are actually on the CBC’s payroll?” thought Derek.
We finally got our answer, after a long wait. As it turns out, the situation is actually pretty funny. ATI documents show that three members of the ‘Friends’ Steering Committee actually were on the CBC payroll.
Aritha van Herk was paid to write poems and was paid $6,322. David Tars was paid to be a “reader” and was paid $277, while Stephen Kimber was paid $675 as a “freelance[r].”
These are quite small sums of money – especially in the latter two cases – however this is by no means the whole picture. Some of the individuals refused to disclose their financial arrangements with the CBC, resulting in about 85 pages of the ATI documents being blanked out.
It sort of makes you think – if your goal is to demonstrate public support for the CBC, wouldn’t you put members of the public on your board, rather than CBC contractors?
Read the full story here.
We finally got our answer, after a long wait. As it turns out, the situation is actually pretty funny. ATI documents show that three members of the ‘Friends’ Steering Committee actually were on the CBC payroll.
Aritha van Herk was paid to write poems and was paid $6,322. David Tars was paid to be a “reader” and was paid $277, while Stephen Kimber was paid $675 as a “freelance[r].”
These are quite small sums of money – especially in the latter two cases – however this is by no means the whole picture. Some of the individuals refused to disclose their financial arrangements with the CBC, resulting in about 85 pages of the ATI documents being blanked out.
It sort of makes you think – if your goal is to demonstrate public support for the CBC, wouldn’t you put members of the public on your board, rather than CBC contractors?
Read the full story here.
Is the CBC paying for porn?
Canadians who are hankering for some titillating programming from France can turn to an online platform being offered by the French branch of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"I can understand promoting the French language, but I certainly would not support anything that involves porn, that's for sure," said Liberal MP Lawrence MacAulay, who passed on seeing the clips, but said he wouldn't support it even if they had used actors from Quebec instead of France.
"I can understand promoting the French language, but I certainly would not support anything that involves porn, that's for sure," said Liberal MP Lawrence MacAulay, who passed on seeing the clips, but said he wouldn't support it even if they had used actors from Quebec instead of France.
"I don't think my constituents would like paying for any television programming made outside of Canada," said Rob Merrifield, a Tory MP from Alberta. "It doesn't look right to me."
His caucus colleague John Williamson, former head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, agrees.
"This kind of programming should not be on a broadcaster that is funded by taxpayers, that receives a billion dollars a year, this kind of industry does not need tax dollars to support it," Williamson said.
Read the full story here.
PS - what do YOU think?
Tax Money for CBC. No Money For Seniors. Where's the Justice?
| In a March 25, 2009 press release (full release here) discussing the CBC/Radio-Canada 2009-2010 business plan and the then current financial crisis, CBC President and CEO Hubert Lacroix said that "people are the foundation of our success. We've done and will continue to do everything we can to minimize the impact on our staff. But in a company where 60 per cent of the overall budget goes to salaries, it's simply impossible to bridge a gap of this magnitude without having a major impact on people" Documents released (here) by the CBC show that executives at the vice-president level (of which there are 8) earn between $173,000 and $375,000. It's now being reported (here) that 730 employees at the taxpayer funded CBC are earning more than $100,000 a year. It is a fact that the "people (who) are at the foundation of our success" are being looked after. But at what cost to the Canadian Taxpayer? Prime Minister Harper is at a crossroads. When Mr Harper was asked by a CBC reporter in Winnipeg in 2004 to comment on his plans for the CBC he stated: "I've suggested that government subsidies in support of CBC's services should be to those things that are not ... do not have commercial alternatives". Today, as there were then, there are commercial alternatives to public broadcasting. There are many private broadcasters in Canada that are doing this job today and they don't need another competitor (that is subsidized) bidding against them to bring programming to Canadian viewers. In a universe of 500 plus channels, having the CBC paying hundreds of employees hundreds of thousands of dollars a year with taxpayer money (to the tune of 1.2 billion a year) makes absolutely no sense at all. With the debates going on in Parliament today about taking money away from seniors who have planned their retirement, Prime Minister Harper should remember his musings from years ago. 1.2 billion dollars a year would help these Canadian Seniors and finally put a plug in the CBC Money Drain. Where's the Justice? | ||
| |
730 CBC employees make over $100,000 a year ...
How much does Peter Mansbridge make? How about Rick Mercer?
While we don't know exact figures, you can bet those two gentlemen are among the 730 CBC employees who earn more than $100,000 a year.
While the CBC did disclose that approximately 730 employees are paid more than $100,000 a year, the taxpayer funded corporation won't tell Parliament who they are and exactly how much they earn.
The only employee whose salary range and expenses the broadcaster was willing to divulge was CBC/Radio-Canada President Hubert Lacroix. The CBC said Lacroix's salary, set by the Governor in Council, was between $358,400 and $421,600 in 2011.
Lacroix is also provided with a 2011 Ford Taurus and a driver who earns between $34,000 and $56,500, according to the iPolitics report.
Read the full story here.
730 CBC employees make over $100,000 a year?
What do you think of this? This is YOUR tax money!
CBC taking bite out of ... Apple?!
The Canadian government has decided to start a new business, and go head-to-head with Apple’s phenomenally successful iTunes online music store.
Others have tried to take on Apple. Canada’s most successful hi-tech company, Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, is having a tough time battling Apple’s iPhone.
It’s not surprising — Apple has a growing army of loyal customers and a constant stream of new products.
They made a $26 billion profit last year, and are sitting on $98 billion in cash. The only people more fanatic than Apple customers are Apple employees.
This is the market the Conservative government has set its sights on. The government’s Crown corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, announced last week it’s going to jump into the online music business.
Let’s compare the two competitors. The CBC is creaking under the weight of no fewer than 10 different labour unions; its corporate culture is a toxic mix of entitlement and work-to-rule sullenness; it’s run by political appointees, not real business executives. And they’re going to take a run at Apple’s iTunes, which has 88% of the legal online market for music sales. Apple has sold more than 10 billion songs online and now sells TV shows, movies and computer applications online.
The CBC is a failure at what it does now. It blows through $1.1 billion a year, and it has been made irrelevant by the 500-channel universe. It no longer has a rationale, other than inertia. It’s less relevant than ever, but more arrogant than ever.
Read the full story here.
PS - What do YOU think?
Others have tried to take on Apple. Canada’s most successful hi-tech company, Research in Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, is having a tough time battling Apple’s iPhone.
It’s not surprising — Apple has a growing army of loyal customers and a constant stream of new products.
They made a $26 billion profit last year, and are sitting on $98 billion in cash. The only people more fanatic than Apple customers are Apple employees.
This is the market the Conservative government has set its sights on. The government’s Crown corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, announced last week it’s going to jump into the online music business.
Let’s compare the two competitors. The CBC is creaking under the weight of no fewer than 10 different labour unions; its corporate culture is a toxic mix of entitlement and work-to-rule sullenness; it’s run by political appointees, not real business executives. And they’re going to take a run at Apple’s iTunes, which has 88% of the legal online market for music sales. Apple has sold more than 10 billion songs online and now sells TV shows, movies and computer applications online.
The CBC is a failure at what it does now. It blows through $1.1 billion a year, and it has been made irrelevant by the 500-channel universe. It no longer has a rationale, other than inertia. It’s less relevant than ever, but more arrogant than ever.
Read the full story here.
PS - What do YOU think?
Star and CBC are Fordophobic
The CBC is no better. They reported Ford dialed 911, called the operators “bitches” and said, “I am Rob (Bleeping) Ford, the mayor of this city.”
Police Chief Bill Blair says he has heard the 911 tape and the CBC story is wrong.
After CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe said Blair’s statement was not reliable as he was an interested party, Blair asked Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Chris Lewis to listen to the tape.
Lewis said Blair’s report of the tape’s contents is accurate.
The CBC has never heard the tape and yet stands by its story.
What happened to journalism at the CBC?
Read the full story here.
Police Chief Bill Blair says he has heard the 911 tape and the CBC story is wrong.
After CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe said Blair’s statement was not reliable as he was an interested party, Blair asked Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Chris Lewis to listen to the tape.
Lewis said Blair’s report of the tape’s contents is accurate.
The CBC has never heard the tape and yet stands by its story.
What happened to journalism at the CBC?
Read the full story here.
CBC feels free to ignore its own ombudsman ...
Kirk LaPointe has been busy. The former television executive and parapetictic newspaper editor — he helped launch the National Post in 1998 — is churning out reports for CBC, where he now serves as ombudsman, responsible for investigating public complaints about perceived violations of the corporation’s “journalistic policies and standards.”
He has just completed five reviews. Six more are underway. Good that he takes his job seriously and is diligent. One has to wonder, though: What’s the point of keeping an ombudsman if the CBC just ignores his work?
Mr. LaPointe could be asking himself the same question after what happened last week, when he released findings on a touchy conflict of interest complaint that involves a CBC reporter, his wife, and his wife’s boss, B.C. Premier Christy Clark.
Read the full story here.
He has just completed five reviews. Six more are underway. Good that he takes his job seriously and is diligent. One has to wonder, though: What’s the point of keeping an ombudsman if the CBC just ignores his work?
Mr. LaPointe could be asking himself the same question after what happened last week, when he released findings on a touchy conflict of interest complaint that involves a CBC reporter, his wife, and his wife’s boss, B.C. Premier Christy Clark.
Read the full story here.
Judges are above politics, Council says ...
The CBC was taken to court by Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault for restricting her ability to examine documents to determine if they can be released through the open-records law.
Boivin ruled in Legault’s favour, but the CBC has appealed his decision.
The Tories are angry about what they say is the use of taxpayers’ money — the CBC gets about $1 billion from the federal government annually — to fund the litigation against a taxpayer-funded official.
Boivin was named on the list of witnesses submitted by Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, who is also Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. Del Mastro told the committee he felt it was “entirely appropriate” to invite Boivin to discuss his ruling.
“Judges are servants of the public. They uphold our laws,” he said. “This specific judge has looked at all the evidence before him, and he has rendered a decision. I think it’s important that the committee hears about that decision and why he came to it.
Read the full story here.
Boivin ruled in Legault’s favour, but the CBC has appealed his decision.
The Tories are angry about what they say is the use of taxpayers’ money — the CBC gets about $1 billion from the federal government annually — to fund the litigation against a taxpayer-funded official.
Boivin was named on the list of witnesses submitted by Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, who is also Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. Del Mastro told the committee he felt it was “entirely appropriate” to invite Boivin to discuss his ruling.
“Judges are servants of the public. They uphold our laws,” he said. “This specific judge has looked at all the evidence before him, and he has rendered a decision. I think it’s important that the committee hears about that decision and why he came to it.
Read the full story here.
Two federal government departments in legal war with information czar ...
As Conservative MPs denounce the CBC for wasting taxpayers' money by fighting the Information Commissioner in Federal Court, two federal departments are quietly conducting their own legal battles against her.
Tory MPs on the Commons Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics committee are conducting a study of what one on Tuesday described as an outrageous waste of money in CBC's litigation in Federal Court against Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault.
Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wanted the committee to study the case because "my concern is that we have a public entity, the CBC, in court against the Information Commissioner of this House spending millions of dollars fighting each other," he said at a committee hearing last month.
"I think a lot of Canadians would be really troubled to know that we are spending an awful lot of taxpayers' money on a court case where in fact they're funding both sides of it."
Read the full story here.
Tory MPs on the Commons Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics committee are conducting a study of what one on Tuesday described as an outrageous waste of money in CBC's litigation in Federal Court against Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault.
Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, wanted the committee to study the case because "my concern is that we have a public entity, the CBC, in court against the Information Commissioner of this House spending millions of dollars fighting each other," he said at a committee hearing last month.
"I think a lot of Canadians would be really troubled to know that we are spending an awful lot of taxpayers' money on a court case where in fact they're funding both sides of it."
Read the full story here.
CBC's Comedy of Errors ...
Turns out it’s not just This Hour Has 22 Minutes that’s the comedy show — but the whole CBC network.
Even though the journalistic community is laughing at them, there is nothing funny about the systematic and erroneous attacks on Mayor Rob Ford and an apparent lack of respect for the truth.
When you report sources saying the mayor “turned on the dispatcher, yelling: “You … bitches! Don’t you f---ing know? I’m Rob f---ing Ford, the mayor of this city!” and it’s not true, you had better get on your knees and beg for forgiveness.
Instead, the arrogant Mother Corp is digging itself in even deeper.
Read the full story here.
Even though the journalistic community is laughing at them, there is nothing funny about the systematic and erroneous attacks on Mayor Rob Ford and an apparent lack of respect for the truth.
When you report sources saying the mayor “turned on the dispatcher, yelling: “You … bitches! Don’t you f---ing know? I’m Rob f---ing Ford, the mayor of this city!” and it’s not true, you had better get on your knees and beg for forgiveness.
Instead, the arrogant Mother Corp is digging itself in even deeper.
Read the full story here.
The Happy Gang revisited: charting the future of the CBC ...
Back in 1936, every Canadian wanted a radio set. And as prices finally dropped as low as $30 ($500 in today’s currency), one million households welcomed the new technology into the living room, mainly tuning in to American stations with such shows as the beloved Amos ’n’ Andy.
That wasn’t quite what Ottawa had in mind when it founded a national radio network a few years earlier. So on Nov. 2 of that mid-Depression year, the government decided to rechristen its on-air effort the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, granting the network its independence and a mandate to provide Canadians with Canadian entertainment. The new broadcaster cheerfully picked up the competition (Amos ’n’ Andy as well as various American soap operas) but also added The Happy Gang variety show and hockey games to the mix.
These days – as the CBC gets ready for a 75-day countdown to its 75th anniversary – what Canadians want is any gadget that streams content from the Internet. Three-quarters of us have broadband access at home and increasingly we use it not simply to read e-mail or surf the Web but to watch high-quality video programming: Almost one million Canadians have already subscribed to Netflix to stream Hollywood movies and TV shows.
Read the full story here and let us know what you think.
That wasn’t quite what Ottawa had in mind when it founded a national radio network a few years earlier. So on Nov. 2 of that mid-Depression year, the government decided to rechristen its on-air effort the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, granting the network its independence and a mandate to provide Canadians with Canadian entertainment. The new broadcaster cheerfully picked up the competition (Amos ’n’ Andy as well as various American soap operas) but also added The Happy Gang variety show and hockey games to the mix.
These days – as the CBC gets ready for a 75-day countdown to its 75th anniversary – what Canadians want is any gadget that streams content from the Internet. Three-quarters of us have broadband access at home and increasingly we use it not simply to read e-mail or surf the Web but to watch high-quality video programming: Almost one million Canadians have already subscribed to Netflix to stream Hollywood movies and TV shows.
Read the full story here and let us know what you think.
CBC denies, then admits to hiring back retirees ...
CBC hires back dozens of retirees each year as contractors or consultants.
Documents obtained through access to information show that between 2005 and 2007 the state broadcaster hired 125 people who were also receiving an annuity or pension from CBC.
The records took three years to obtain and required the intervention of the federal information commissioner. At first CBC refused to release any records, claiming all records were considered personal information and not subject to the access law.
Read the full story here.
Documents obtained through access to information show that between 2005 and 2007 the state broadcaster hired 125 people who were also receiving an annuity or pension from CBC.
The records took three years to obtain and required the intervention of the federal information commissioner. At first CBC refused to release any records, claiming all records were considered personal information and not subject to the access law.
Read the full story here.
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