Source : Canadian Press

by Gord McIntosh and Jennifer Ditchburn

OTTAWA (CP) – CBC chairwoman Guylaine Saucier has asked the Prime Minister's Office to take the top candidate for presidency of the public broadcaster off the list, say CBC and government sources.

Saucier dislikes the idea of former cultural bureaucrat Robert Rabinovitch becoming president, sources told The Canadian Press.

Rabinovitch is a personal friend of Chrétien adviser Eddie Goldenberg, while Saucier has close ties to the prime minister and his wife Aline.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saucier does not want to compete with Rabinovitch for the PMO's attention.

Saucier denied she has had any say in choosing the next president and chalked the allegations up to idle speculation.

"The decision is the prime minister's and I respect his point of view," Saucier said in an interview Friday.

The CBC presidency has been up for grabs since early July, when former chief Perrin Beatty announced he was leaving ahead of schedule. Executive vice-president Jim McCoubrey was named acting president a few weeks later. Saucier is reported to support McCoubrey staying on permanently.

Rabinovitch was approached about the job early in the year, sources said, and he expressed interest with several conditions ensuring the presidency remains the corporation's top job.

Those conditions were accepted until Saucier found out about them in the summer, sources said, and she complained directly to Jean Pelletier, Chrétien's chief of staff.

As a result, appointment of a president has been delayed indefinitely. Cabinet passed an order in council last month that installed McCoubrey as acting president until the end of October.

Saucier set tongues wagging this spring when she stole the limelight from Beatty at federal licence hearings for the CBC.

As chairwoman, she is supposed to act as a background overseer, while the president is the main manager and strategist.

But Beatty definitely took a backseat to Saucier during hearings. Observers like pro-CBC group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting protest [the] power of the politically-appointed CBC board and warn that Saucier and others will seek more control the longer it takes for a president to be appointed.

Rabinovitch, who works at a Montreal consulting firm, said Friday in an interview he hasn't been approached by anyone for the job.

He said, however, that he would be seriously interested in the position. Rabinovitch was highly regarded in his years working at the Communications Department and other culture-related jobs in the bureaucracy.

Government officials said earlier this week that Heritage Minister Sheila Copps is pushing the idea of Rabinovitch for president with City TV boss Moses Znaimer as a special private-sector adviser.

© Canadian Press