Source : Globe & Mail

by Hugh Winsor

Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, normally the Jeanne d'Arc of Canadian culture and booster of all things Hamilton, seems to have abandoned her traditional policies in the case of a controversial new television licence.

And her detractors say her reticence to challenge the licence could be due to a conflict between her underground campaign for the Liberal leadership and her ministerial responsibility to process an appeal of a Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission decision to the cabinet.

At issue is the surprise decision by the CRTC to give the last available over-the-air television channel for the Toronto and Hamilton areas to a small western Canadian broadcaster, Craig Broadcast Systems Inc., in a split decision in which the most senior CRTC commissioner on the panel, vice-chair of broadcasting, André Wylie, voted against the majority and issued a stinging dissent.

The minister is said to have political connections with the Craig company because Greg Ashley, a former member of her political staff, who is active on her leadership campaign, has been hired as a vice-president of regulatory affairs by one of the Craig companies. There has also been an allegation, strongly denied on both sides, that Craig Broadcasting is financing Ms. Copps's leadership campaign.

Craig won over two other major players in the broadcasting system plus Torstar Corp., which was making its first major foray into broadcasting and promising a dramatically different approach, based almost exclusively on Canadian content.

While there have been no suggestions of any political interference in the initial application process, the accusations are now flying in terms of the appeal of the CRTC decision to cabinet, which is, by definition, a political process.

Ms. Copps's political neighbour, Stan Keyes, Liberal MP for Hamilton West who is chair of the national Liberal caucus, says the minister resisted a cabinet appeal because of links to Craig Broadcasting.

He was so upset, he filed his own petition to cabinet to reconsider the Craig award and was followed by the losing applicants, Torstar, Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc. and Global Communications Ltd.

The lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has also intervened by writing to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien saying the principals of Craig broadcasting have made a substantial contribution to Ms. Copps's leadership campaign.

Both Ms. Copps, through a spokesperson, and Boyd Craig denied yesterday that any contributions have been made or promised for a leadership campaign. Craig Broadcasting has, however, made contributions to Ms. Copps's election campaigns, as have other broadcasters.

One of the reasons Mr. Keyes and many other Liberal MPs in Toronto, and Southwestern Ontario, are upset with the CRTC award (and with Ms. Copps) is that Torstar offered to create three separate local stations in Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener with intensely local programming.

The Craig proposal is only for a Toronto station with a repeater in Hamilton. It is targeting second- and third-generation Canadians who Craig believes want stories about their heritage in English.

The three CRTC commissioners who voted for the Craig licence said it would bring a new "western-based broadcasting voice to the Toronto/Hamilton market, thus providing the market with a fresh perspective." But that view has been ridiculed by the Winnipeg Free Press, which has seen Craig Broadcast Systems on the air.

"On the strength of Craig's offerings in Calgary and Winnipeg, it would be hard to show that the CRTC has done a kindness to Toronto television viewers, who will now be given a fresh outlet for warmed-over U.S. material."

The lobbying battle over the cabinet appeal is heating up this week with both Drew Craig, representing the winner, and Rob Prichard, Torstar's new chief executive officer, beating on the doors of MPs and ministers.

The Craig people say they won the competition with the best proposal and it should be allowed to stand.

Mr. Prichard is busy swinging the big bat Torstar acquired from its strength in the local markets. He is asking the cabinet to start over again, arguing the Craig award was so far out of the box it is "grossly inconsistent" with the Broadcasting Act.

Even if Ms. Copps is not being influenced by her leadership ambitions (and she refuses to talk about the allegations), she is still in a difficult situation.

She is reluctant to interfere with a semi-judicial process but if she doesn't, she will have a difficult time explaining why she does not support a new television station in her hometown and why she would opt for another conventional private broadcaster over a new, predominantly Canadian, approach.

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