CBC boss spent December in Miami
Spent December at condo despite public advice
OTTAWA • The head of Radio-canada, the French arm of Canada's public broadcaster, spent nearly the entire month of December working and vacationing in Miami, despite public health advice strongly discouraging travel, the National Post has learned.
Michel Bissonnette, CBC/ Radio-canada's executive vice-president of French Services and the public broadcaster's second-in-command, went to his condo — located right on Miami Beach according to public state records — on Dec. 2 to “tend to business regarding this property,” Radio-canada spokesman Marc Pichette confirmed by email.
“He stayed in Miami from Dec. 2 to 27. He worked from there from Dec. 2 to 17 and was on vacation for the rest of his stay,” Pichette said.
The trip occurred despite a Canadian government advisory that's been in place since March 14, 2020, that says, “Canadian citizens and permanent residents are advised to avoid all non-essential travel outside of Canada until further notice to limit the spread of COVID-19. The best way to protect yourself, your family and those most at risk of severe illness from COVID-19 in our communities is to choose to stay in Canada.”
Kim Trynacity, CBC branch president of the Canadian Media Guild, said the trip showed a lack of judgment.
“Cbc/radio Canada's own policies strongly recommend against personal travel to risk countries during the pandemic. Regardless of their reasons, senior leaders who travel to a sunny destination during a widely observed holiday, instead of staying at home, show poor judgment and a lack of respect for the many employees for whom they are supposed to be setting an example.”
On the day Bissonnette arrived in Florida, MiamiDade County reported 9,890 new COVID19 cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (compared to 6,306 new cases in all of Canada). By Dec. 24, the county was averaging over 11,000 new daily cases.
Florida currently ranks third in total COVID19 cases per U.S. state since the beginning of the pandemic (1.48 million), behind only California (2.7 million) and Texas (two million).
During his time in Miami, Radiocanada said Bissonnette followed both CBC/ SRC’S internal policies as well as “provincial health requirements.”
“For all the time he was in Miami, he never went to any restaurant or any retail store. Upon his return, he quarantined for 14 days,” said Pichette’s email.
Pichette also said that this was the only time the head of CBC’S French services went to Miami since the beginning of the pandemic in March. Neither Pichette nor Bissonnette responded to questions about whether the senior Cbc/radiocanada executive visited anyone while in Florida.
In the weeks before Bissonnette left for Miami partly to vacation, Canadian authorities repeatedly and clearly warned against all nonessential travel abroad.
“The advice from Global Affairs is very clear. It’s on the website. Everyone can take a look. It was just updated and reaffirmed last week. There is clear advice to all Canadians not to undertake any nonessential travel,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Nov. 23, 2020.
“What I’m doing right now is telling people not to go out if you don’t have to, not to travel if you don’t have to, that for the coming weeks, we need to flatten this curve,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Canadians during a press conference a few days earlier.
On the same day, Health Minister Patty Hajdu pleaded with Canadians considering nonessential travel to rethink.
Radiocanada reported on all of those press conferences.
Bissonnette is not the first Cbc/radiocanada senior executive to have travelled outside the country during the pandemic.
On Dec. 11, CANADALAND reported that CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait travelled back and forth multiple times between her residence in Brookyln, New York, and her other home in Ottawa.
The report stated that Tait lived in the U.S. in order to take care of her husband, who was undergoing medical treatment.