May 8, 2013 — News Article: Critics fear Tories’ changes to collective bargaining at Crown corporations will threaten CBC independence by Joanna Smith
Columnist says groups, such as FRIENDS, who are worried that government involvement in labour negotiations at Crown corporations will threaten the independence of the CBC are stepping up efforts to persuade the Conservatives to reconsider.
May 8, 2013 — News Release: FREE CBC from political interference
No public broadcaster in any free and democratic country anywhere in the world faces political interference with its editorial independence as proposed for the CBC in Bill C-60.
May 8, 2013 — News Article: CBC supporters rally in Ottawa against government interference by Jessica Hume
FRIENDS says the independence of CBC is under attack as the government proposes to bring union contracts of Crown corporations under Treasury Board control.
May 8, 2013 — News Article: ‘Free CBC' Petition Signed By 120,000 Against Tories' Bill C-60
FRIENDS says that with ultimate control of the salaries and working conditions of all CBC employees in the hands of the government, as proposed in Bill C-60, the CBC would have to contend with the perception that its editorial decisions may be politically motivated.
May 7, 2013 — News Release: Advisory - FREE CBC from political interference
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting will be on the Hill tomorrow to give a news conference and brief Parliamentarians concerning the impact on the CBC of Bill C-60.
May 7, 2013 — Blog Post: CBC debated at Question Period
Lots of focus on the CBC in QP yesterday, including a couple of questions from Mulcair, plus a new Hall of Shame addition (see Jack Harris question to Chris Alexander).
May 7, 2013 — News Article: Is the CBC in crisis, or is Canada in crisis? by John Doyle
Columnist suggests that a vast, disengaged population represents a crisis more authentic than the matter of ad dollars and hockey on CBC.
May 7, 2013 — News Article: Tories vulnerable in several francophone ridings by Chantal Hébert
Columnist says that to go after the CBC is also to go after its French-language counterpart and Radio-Canada is an essential part of the cultural food chain of the country’s francophone minorities.
May 6, 2013 — News Article: EDITORIAL: Harper government’s new controls on Crown corporations a cause for concern
Editorial says the federal Conservatives have tabled a deceptively innocuous, deeply worrying piece of legislation that will give the government unprecedented controls over Crown corporations.
May 4, 2013 — News Article: Conrad Black: Public-sector unions are a blight on our society by Conrad Black
Conrad Black says the CBC has not so much suffered from a strangled budget, but from the misallocation of resources to an administrative clot of bureaucratic stagnation riveted on a network whose creative budget and personnel have been forced to carry a top-lofty bureaucracy.
May 2, 2013 — News Article: If CRTC doesn’t give guaranteed spot to Sun News it will be a ‘death sentence,’ network says by Steve Rennie
Sun News Network has made its final pitch to the federal telecommunications regulator, saying anything short of a guaranteed spot on the dial would spell the end of the channel.
May 2, 2013 — News Article: CBC integrity not in danger through federal changes to labour negotiations: Minister by Daniel Proussalidis
Heritage Minister James Moore says the CBC has "full independence of what they decide to put on the air or not, on radio and television or online" and that the editorial independence of CBC is entirely untouched.
May 2, 2013 — News Article: Read the Broadcasting Act! Explaining the CBC to Stephen Harper by Karl Nerenberg
Columnist says it seems that however much politicians might pay lip service to the idea of an independent CBC, once in power, very few like it.
May 1, 2013 — News Article: CBC/Radio-Canada's statement on Bill C-60
CBC says salary increases at the public broadcaster have averaged 1.9% over the past seven years while salaries in the private sector have increased an average of 3% over the same period.
May 1, 2013 — News Article: Is the Harper government trying to control the CBC? by Andy Radia
FRIENDS believes that Bill C-60 takes direct aim at the independence of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
May 1, 2013 — News Article: Sexism, spite and Kirstine Stewart’s CBC legacy by John Doyle
Columnist says outgoing CBC VP English Services Kirstine Stewart was stuck with tight budgets, few resources, a smaller pool of talent, and competition from commercial broadcasters with a great deal more money and resources to splash around.
May 1, 2013 — News Article: Feds threatening journalist independence of CBC under new power over wages, benefits, collective bargaining, say critics by Tim Naumetz
FRIENDS says the government is threatening the journalistic independence of the CBC with legislation that will give Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Cabinet power over CBC collective bargaining with unions representing several thousand news and current affairs personnel.
May 1, 2013 — News Article: Conservatives’ move to control negotiations at Crown corporations part of broader agenda for public service contracts by Kathryn May
Columnist says the Conservative government’s move to control the mandate of contract negotiations between Crown corporations and its employees is part of its sweeping plan to make the pay and benefits of all federal workers more affordable and in line with the private sector.
May 1, 2013 — News Article: Bill C-60: Tories Quietly Taking Control Of CBC, Group Alleges
FRIENDS says the heavy presence of Conservative Party donors on the CBC's Board of Directors “will further undermine the CBC’s independence from government."
May 1, 2013 — News Article: Harper tightening the reins on CBC, Via Rail and Canada Post by Bill Curry and John Ibbitson
Columnists say the federal government is taking a harder line on collective bargaining, giving itself sweeping new powers to steer independent Crown corporations on their negotiations with employees over wages and benefits.
