Source : National Post

Much at stake as lobbyists scramble for TV licences

by GIllian Cosgrove

Tacky TV tussle: The battle for Toronto's newest television station has triggered a blitzkrieg of lobbying featuring a cast of colourful characters – Liberals all – that could rival an episode of The West Wing.

Most experts predicted that Torstar Corp., owner of the unashamedly Liberal Toronto Star, would get the nod for the new TV licence from the CRTC regulator.

So it came as a shock when upstart Craig Broadcast Systems of Calgary won the bid .

Smarting from losing the controversial three-two decision, Rob Prichard, CEO of Torstar, last week appealed to the federal Cabinet. Then Canwest Global Communications, Alliance-Atlantis Broadcasting and CHUM Inc. weighed in with their own appeals.

All claim that Craig promised far less Canadian and local programming than they did. Suddenly the licence to make money is up for grabs again, as well as ones in Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo.

Whatever the outcome, the usual suspects among powerful Liberal lobbyists with close links to Liberal leadership hopefuls have come out of the woodwork – again. This last-ditch fight has every sign of getting dirty, and is seen by many as another unseemly dress rehearsal for the leadership race, when it becomes official.

With appeals filed, the broadcasters have formally retreated to the sidelines as battalions of high-paid "lobbyists," "consultants" and "strategists" (the titles are interchangeable) descend on the Ottawa power structure. The federal cabinet will rule on the appeals in mid-June. Given that Torstar owns newspapers in southwestern Ontario, including the Toronto Star and Hamilton Spectator, Toronto-area ministers should happily carry Torstar's cause into the cabinet room.

This broadcasting brawl comes just as federal cabinet ministers with the goal of succeeding Jean Chrétien as Prime Minister seek to distance themselves from the bagmen and bagwomen, a.k.a lobbyists. This follows a spate of revelations in the National Post of collective behaviour by lobbyists that, at the very least, has the appearance of conflicts of interest.

The war between Torstar and Craig involves some very heavy-hitters with direct daily access to federal decision-makers.

Torstar, for example, has engaged Ottawa lobbyist Herb Metcalfe to press cabinet flesh as it seeks to have the licence decision overturned in its ultimate favour. Mr. Metcalfe just happens to be running the leadership campaign of John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Manley landed in hot water last week when the Post revealed his supporters were soliciting donations of $25,000, and suggesting these be written off as business expenses "at your own risk."

Mr. Metcalfe, in turn, just happens to be husband of Isabel Metcalfe, who just happens to be the fundraising pivot in the leadership campaign of Sheila Copps, who, as Heritage Minister, has major responsibility for broadcasting. Ms. Copps could decide to sit this cabinet ruling out because she finds herself in an uncomfortable spot. True, she's an MP from Hamilton, where Torstar owns the Spectator. But some of Ms. Copps's prime leadership fundraisers are reported to be executives with family-controlled Craig Broadcasting.

Pointing to this possible conflict of interest, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a lobby group, is calling on any cabinet minister who has received political contributions from a broadcast licensee or applicant to refrain from voting on the upcoming decision.

"We have received credible reports that the principals of Craig ...whose licence is under appeal, have made a substantial contribution to the leadership campaign of the Honorable Sheila Copps, who would normally have the responsibility of bringing broadcasting appeals to the Cabinet table," wrote Ian Morrison, Friends spokesman, in a letter to Mr. Chrétien.

Now, in this convoluted and incestuous plot line, it just so happens that Ian Morrison is the husband of Pauline Couture, a high-profile broadcasting consultant who is on the Torstar team. She has written speeches for the head of the CRTC, advised CTV on regulatory issues and served on the executive of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. She resigned as vice-chair of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, last May, due to conflicting roles as a lobbyist and speechwriter.

Meanwhile, Craig Broadcasting – which moved its head office from Brandon, Manitoba to Calgary – is the unhappy victor that now must spend more cash to defend its regulatory spoils.

Drew Craig has signed up Mike Robinson of the Ottawa-based Earnscliffe Strategy Group to help put the company's case to the cabinet. Mr. Robinson, along with several of his senior millionaire colleagues at Earnscliffe, just happens to be a top strategist for Paul Martin, the Finance Minister, in his quest to see the moving vans lining up outside 24 Sussex Drive to remove the Chrétien chattels.

In a pre-emptive strategy to show that Craig Broadcasting will honour its commitment to cross-cultural programming, its new TV station, called toronto/one, this week appointed Bahadur Madhani, head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, to chair its advisory board on spending $7.4-million on new ethnic English-language programming.

Drew Craig was spotted in Los Angeles last week on a buying spree as he competed for U.S. prime-time programs against bigger players CTV, Global and CHUM. It seems Mr. Craig is convinced that, even with an appeal before the Cabinet, he's going to win and eventually launch his Toronto television station.

When he heard that all these maestros of spin had been brought into the Craig-Torstar war at the very time the party is desperately trying to distance itself from lobbyists, one of the rare Liberal backroom brokers with no known preference for the Liberal leadership summed up his feelings with two words: "Disgusting. Disgusting."

"I ask you, when are these guys in Ottawa going to realize that they may be enriching themselves, but are robbing the party of its credibility in the process?" he fumed.

Leaky Libs: The undeclared Liberal leadership feud has escalated to the point where it has reached the Bay Street executive office of the chairman and chief executive officer of Canada's second largest bank. It goes without saying that, if CEOs on The Street hate anything, it is being linked, however remotely, to political sleaze.

Strategists for John Manley, the Deputy Prime Minister, know that a letter leaked to the National Post seeking a $25,000 donation for Manley's unannounced leadership bid was addressed to Peter Godsoe, the head of Bank of Nova Scotia. The letter, signed by David Gavsie, a Manley bagman, dared to intimate that this sum could be written off at tax time.

The Manley people blame the camp of Paul Martin, the Finance Minister and front-runner to succeed the Prime Minister, for this damaging leak. They point out that a key member of Mr. Godsoe's staff is Kaz Flinn, a take-no-prisoners government relations specialist who is also an active promoter of Mr. Martin.

But what goes around comes around in Liberal politics. A few weeks ago, the Martinets were crying foul when a leak they blame on the Chrétienites disclosed that Jim Palmer, a flamboyant Calgary party bagman, had accidentally sent a cheque for $25,000 to the Liberal Party instead of to Mr. Martin's swollen warchest.

© National Post