Source : Toronto Star

He's called 'a break from past'
Supporters say businessman 'terrific' choice

by Antonia Zerbisias

CBC finally has a new president – and its staffers and supporters couldn't be more enthusiastic about him.

He's Montreal businessman Robert Rabinovitch, 56, a former deputy minister of communications under the Trudeau Liberals, who was appointed CBC's president and chief executive officer yesterday by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

He takes over Nov. 15.

That's not a moment too soon: The top cultural post in the country has been vacant since July when former president Perrin Beatty quit during a six-month extension of his five-year term.

For the past year, media reports were filled with speculation of political infighting and backbiting between CBC chair Guylaine Saucier and Heritage ministry officials over who would get the job.

Long rumoured to be the leading contender, Rabinovitch, who is friendly with Chrétien adviser Eddie Goldenberg, got the call late last week while he was holidaying in Hawaii.

His acceptance of the job met what seemed to be universal enthusiasm.

"His appointment signals a break from the past," said Ian Morrison, spokesperson for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting lobby group, which has been very critical of CBC management in recent years.

Former TVO chair Peter Herrndorf, himself a rumoured candidate for the CBC job until he was named head of Ottawa's National Arts Centre last summer, described Rabinovitch as "terrific" for CBC.

"I think Bob has the leadership, drive, energy and passion for this job," he said. "He feels very strongly about the role of CBC and can communicate and translate that into everyday reality, which is going to be a very big issue in his presidency."

Battered by budget cuts, outflanked by the private sector competition and spurned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) which has rejected its applications for specialty TV licences, CBC is struggling to hold on in a multi-channel universe.

"Let's be frank: At the end of the day, if the government and the regulator want to kill CBC, it will be killed," Rabinovitch said in a telephone interview yesterday. "My job is to try and give them a reason not to kill CBC.

"My job is to give them reasons to believe that CBC has a real contribution to make to Canada."

Asked if he thought the job was "do-able," a giddy-sounding Rabinovitch hesitated.

"Long pregnant pause," he laughed. "Let me put it this way. I believe the job has to be done. Number two, I believe in the institution. Number three, I am willing to give it a try; I'm willing to work very hard to do it.

"Time will tell whether it can be done - but I believe in the CBC and therefore I am willing to try."

The bilingual Rabinovitch, who heads the Bronfman-controlled Claridge Inc., is said to have made millions in the private sector. They'll come in handy since the president's job at CBC only pays about $225,000 a year. Compared to the salaries at private networks, which last year ranged from $1.5 million to $2.7 million for senior executives, it's clear Rabinovitch isn't taking the CBC job for the money.

Calling himself "a very strong believer in this country," Rabinovitch said that "CBC is one of the last instruments that we have to tie the country together. It's an extremely important element of defining our identity."

Rabinovitch was reportedly the favourite candidate of Heritage Minister Sheila Copps who praised him to reporters in Ottawa yesterday.

"I believe Bob Rabinovitch's appointment, his stature as a public servant and in the private sector brings a mix of credentials which will help ensure the CBC remains the premier public broadcaster into the next millennium," she said. "I'm just very excited about working with him."

Rabinovitch has had a long association with the federal Liberals, most recently in 1995 when he was a member of a task force examining satellite broadcasting.

Despite his close ties to the government, not even CBC's journalists expressed concerns that Rabinovitch was a political plant.

"We seem to be starting off with the vibes going the right way," said Arnold Amber, vice-president of the Canadian Media Guild, CBC's largest union. "If you're going to go outside (CBC) for a president, here's somebody who has experience in the private sector, experience with government.

"That should be for the good."

NDP culture critic Wendy Lill said Rabinovitch's résumé shows "he's certainly accomplished in many areas."

But she had criticism for how Rabinovitch was selected, calling for more transparency in the process. "We need a democratic process," she said.

Rabinovitch's work is certainly cut out for him.

That's because CBC's future has been called into question this year.

At its May licence renewal hearings, the CRTC hammered CBC executives about their reliance on ad revenues and commitments to professional sports and local newscasts, saying that these were best left to the private sector.

Although he wouldn't comment on CBC's strategy until he had a chance to study it, Rabinovitch did suggest that he wouldn't cede much CBC turf to the competition.

Saying that "there are things that can be done and should be done that only a public broadcaster is willing to do," he pointed to recent provincial elections in Manitoba and New Brunswick, which private broadcasters ignored for U.S. network shows.

"One of the things that public broadcasting does is set a high water mark that people have to, and might want to, try to emulate - and, if it's not there, it's a problem," he said.

"But there has to be something different and distinctive about the CBC for it to survive. Otherwise why should the public finance it?"

For now Rabinovitch's plan is simple: to learn about CBC.

"I'm going to talk to a lot of people and slowly put together my sense of what I think is right and look at what CBC people have done," he said. "There are some damn good people there. And they have done a lot of good work. And then hopefully we can put something together that my board will buy, that the government will buy and the regulator will buy."

With files from Tim Harper, Valerie Lawton and Chris Nuttall-Smith

 © The Toronto Star