CBC fires more than 200 staff on same day it dumps Jian Ghomeshi report on media

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      For many people across the country, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a beloved institution.

      But even its most ardent fans must be troubled by the way in which management is delivering the latest round of cutbacks.

      Earlier today, the public broadcaster released a redacted report examining former CBC Radio Q host Jian Ghomeshi's questionable conduct in the workplace.

      The CEO, Hubert Lacroix, knew that this would be like catnip to the media.

      Then on the same day, the corporation has eliminated 241 jobs, according to the Canadian Media Guild. This adds up to nearly 1,400 jobs lost in the past year, the union noted.

      “They are dismantling CBC/Radio-Canada without any regard for Canadians who have said clearly that the cuts to their public broadcaster in news, local programming, and culture must stop," CMG national president Carmel Smyth said in a news release. "These cuts will have a devastating impact on local news coverage in communities across the country, a service the CBC is  mandated to provide, and has been doing for 75 years. The continued cuts are doing irreparable damage to the public broadcaster.”

      The decision to release the Ghomeshi report on the same day that more than 200 people are fired was management's way of ensuring that the job losses didn't receive as much coverage.

      After all, which media outlet can resist the Ghomeshi story, given that it includes sex, violence, and celebrity? A videographer or a sportscaster getting a layoff notice can't compete with that.

      Meanwhile, CBC Victoria radio host Gregor Craigie has tweeted that two people have lost their jobs at his station.

      CBC National reporter Greg Rasmussen, who's based in Vancouver, has tweeted that everyone is "wondering who and what will be left at the end of the day".

      Sports reporter Karin Larsen, who also works in Vancouver, has tweeted that one of the casualties is her colleague Shane Foxman. Ironically, Foxman joked a few weeks ago on-air with Ian Hanomansing about the times he'd been fired by private broadcasters.

      Another CBC journalist, Simon Dingley, has tweeted that he was working with a camera operator who received a layoff notice today. "He could have gone home, but he insisted on doing his job," Dingley wrote.

      CBC Kelowna reporter Brady Strachan tweeted that the wave of cuts in B.C. are "heartbreaking and soul crushing".

      Perhaps the most poignant tweet came from Stephen Quinn, who hosts On The Coast on CBC Radio.

      "I love my job," Quinn declared. "I'm lucky to have it. I work with the best people. I love public radio & the CBC. But this is one piece of shit day."

      It's easy to point fingers at Lacroix and his colleagues for taking these actions. And it's rather reptilian of them to do it on the same day that Ghomeshi is back in the news.

      But ultimate responsibility rests with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has imposed $115 million in cuts to the public broadcaster.

      NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has promised that if his party forms the next government, he will reinstate this funding.

      In fact, Mulcair even tweeted about it after hearing the latest news.

      Comments

      54 Comments

      Allan Curtis

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:24pm

      The CBC is being punished by budget cuts, not for doing a bad job, but for doing it well and in an impartial manner. The political approach is to stifle criticism by whatever means is possible. Stephen must have been rubbing his hands when he came up with this draconian budget cut ... waste multi-millions on advertising future programs, but cut the heart out of an organization that has brought the country together for 75 years! Shame on the Conservative Party ... it is not all about winning ... it is about managing and governing the country honestly and fairly!

      Not a friend of corruption........

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:31pm

      For about 1 billion a year that is dumped into that cesspool called CBC we could probably put a few more MIR machines in hospitals or build some low income housing so DUMP THE CBC its just a place to stick political hacks and pay them absorbent wages...............................

      terry marcotte

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:36pm

      the CBC can't be dismantled fast enough for me. The government should not be in the entertainment/news business. The private sector does just fine by itself.

      They've brought it on themselves...

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:52pm

      The CBC that used to be was indeed a thread that taught far flung Canadians of the existence and flavour of the rest of their country. It had a real and denfensible purpose. It had real and unbiased journalism. In recent times, it has become a biased mouthpiece to a degree than even I turn it off. But that doesnt mean we dont still need what it used to be. A house cleaning at the CBC is definitely in order, but a death warrant doesn't serve Canadians who would be left with only the American networks to illuminate Canadian life and reality.

      Sienna

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:52pm

      Sad news for the CBC and all its dedicated listeners. Stephen Harper should be ashamed of himself for dismantling so much of our national treasure, CBC. Hopefully, he'll finally be booted out. But will our next government reinstate the lost funding? Probably not.

      Are we supposed to rely on the likes of Global for our news source? News that is barely covered - unless interests lie in weather and sports reports ad nauseam.

      CBC is Canada , CBC is our country , CBC is our stories

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:55pm

      The harpercon.s have mismanaged just about everything , the list of the harpercon failures is almost comparable to george w bush and ilk .
      The CBC is like many other country's public radio an important and critical way of showing what our country is and bringing us together and if you needed a reason for the Harpercon to destroy it that is probably the biggest reason .
      Harpercon = destroy , divide & conquer ,
      And whats left of Canada that he hasn't put in his bank of China account he'll give to the corporations and fundamentalist a.k.a. his friends .
      You would have to be a fool or one of his minions to believe the Harpercon is any good for Canada .
      So please VOTE , the more people who vote , the less chance of a continued oligarch like Harpercon .

      stop the Con.

      Apr 16, 2015 at 2:57pm

      Harpercon has his paid minions posting again .

      Le Parti Canard/Duck Party

      Apr 16, 2015 at 3:08pm

      Releasing these 2 stories on the same day is a perfect example of the sick organizational culture undermining things right at the top. Have we not seen enough yet? Canadians are so easygoing that at some point one has to wonder how detrimental it has become. I am hoping that for once the 2 arms of the network will pull together to unseat tyranny at the helm. Wishful thinking, eh?

      Reynold Reimer

      Apr 16, 2015 at 3:11pm

      We need to remember this at election time and turf Harper and his gang of right wingnuts.

      Bureaucrats decide what to cut

      Apr 16, 2015 at 3:53pm

      Frontline jobs get cut because drones notice and complain about the evil government or overpaid unions yet executives, managers and other do nothing types with no actual responsibilities get pay raises, bonuses and entire departments of new managers even as jobs disappear. This happens in every taxpayer funded bureaucracy and is why the VSB hired more managers even as hey complained about budget shortfalls; it is why Fraser Health eliminated almost 30 frontline jobs in community nutrition and added additional managers and liaisons; it is why the CBC has money problems.

      Bureaucratization of our system has led to rule by those who don't even maintain the fiction elections matter. Bureaucratization is why governments very rarely see their policies enforced and why money slated for reducing surgical wait times in Fraser Health was mostly spent on studying the problem, hiring consultants and specialists while not actually hiring more doctors or nurses. The brand new building at Surrey Memorial is magnificent but more money was spent on hiring non-service providing bureaucrats and their offices than on increasing frontline staff.

      Unfortunately such things are incomprehensible to the bulk of you: your stimulus response is well established. You can't grasp how bureaucrat salaries are hidden under budgets for provisions of service, in some cases multiple bureaucrats "supervise" the same frontline personnel at locations they have never visited. That is one way they can hide the waste and claim their budget for management is far lower than it really is knowing the herds will react according to their conditioning: blame the government or blame the unions.

      So keep blaming those evil Liberals or for a brave few in a Straight forum blame the union workers. Your reliance upon stimulus response is why our system and society are so screwed. No matter which party you obey like a beaten dog if it ever gets or returns to power they will continue most of the policies of "the other" because that is what the bureaucrats want. Bureaucracy is forever: it can only grow and gain power.