No penalty for Radio-canada executive who spent December in Miami
ottawa • The head of Radio-canada, the french arm of Canada’s public broadcaster, apologized but will not face disciplinary action for spending the month of december in miami despite public health advice strongly discouraging travel.
“as Canadians were strongly advised to avoid staying abroad, i understand the reaction to my trip. i am sincerely sorry and i apologize to employees and citizens,” michel Bissonnette said in a french statement sent both to media and to Cbc/radio-canada employees on thursday afternoon.
in a followup statement, CBC spokesman leon mar confirmed that Bissonnette would not be sanctioned for his trip and that CBC president and Ceo Catherine tait “continues to have confidence” in her second-in-command.
Bissonnette was forced to apologize after a national Post report Wednesday revealed he had stayed at his condo — located right on miami beach, according to public state records — from dec. 2 to dec. 27. He spent the first two weeks working from his condo and the last 10 days on vacation, Radio-canada confirmed.
In his statement Thursday, Bissonnette reiterated that he went to Florida — which has seen the third-highest total number of COVID-19 cases of all u.s. states — to “tend to business regarding my property” and that it was his first trip there since the beginning of the pandemic.
But many within and outside of Cbc/radio-canada were furious that Bissonnette went on the trip despite a Canadian government advisory that’s been in place since March 14, 2020 that strong discourages travel for “non-essential” reasons.
“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,” reads the advisory.
The heads of both the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) and the Syndicat des Communications de radio-canada (SCRC) — the two main unions representing the public broadcaster’s employees — severely criticized Bissonnette’s decision to travel to Miami.
“It shows poor judgment from one of the highest members of our organization. CBC and radio-canada has been asking all employees to respect every single public health demand that has been made since the beginning of the pandemic,” SCRC president Pierre Tousignant said in an interview.
“Then to see one of our bosses go to his condo in Miami for almost a month in december sends a poor signal to our members. It’s a complete double standard.”
To his point, he said that radio-canada’s work-fromhome policy during the COVID-19 pandemic is to require employees to live within three hours of the office.
That policy led to a contractual employee based in Montreal losing her job after she moved to Gaspésie (the eastern peninsula of Quebec, roughly eight hours from Montreal).
“She was a researcher so she could do her job from anywhere she was living. But the contract was terminated because she was outside of that three hours drive. I think Miami is a lot further than Gaspésie,” Tousignant noted.
Asked to comment on the fact that Cbc/radio-canada’s executive vice-president of French Services had travelled south in the middle of a pandemic, Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said that government officials and executives are expected to “lead by example.”
“Our government has been clear from the beginning: Canadians are urged to avoid non-essential travel until further notice. CBC/ radio-canada operates independently from the government and therefore remains responsible for its own employee and human resources management. However, we recognize that government officials and Crown corporation representatives should lead by example,” the minister responsible for Cbc/radio-canada said in an emailed statement.
“Ending this pandemic will lean on each and everyone’s responsibility to follow public health guidelines and make the right choices when it comes to reducing the risk of further spread of COVID-19.”
On the day Bissonnette’s stay in Florida began, Miami-dade County reported 9,890 new COVID-19 cases, according to Centers for disease Control and Prevention data (in comparison, there were 6,306 new cases in all of Canada that same day). By dec. 24, the county was averaging over 11,000 new cases a day.
In his email to staff Thursday, Bissonnette reiterated that he avoided going into any restaurant or retail store while abroad and quarantined for 14 days upon return.
But his memo did not repeat the claim by a radio-canada spokesperson to National Post on Wednesday that he followed both Cbc/radio-canada’s internal COVID-19 policies as well as “provincial health requirements” while in Miami.