Senate approves plan to probe CBC operations
Review needed following Rogers hockey deal, committee leader says
The Senate is planning a comprehensive review of the CBC’s role in Canadian society examining how it has used billions of dollars in government subsidies over the years.
A Senate committee, led by Liberal Sen. Dennis Dawson, approved the review Tuesday. It will be conducted through public hearings slated to begin during the coming months.
Dawson, noting he had a preference for having the committee look at other issues such as rail safety or Montreal’s crumbling Champlain Bridge, said the CBC review became more pressing in light of last week’s television deal that will cause the public broadcaster to lose advertising revenues from Hockey Night in Canada.
He dismissed questions about whether the Conservative majority on the committee could drive the review to attack the public broadcaster, reflecting some well-known antiCBC views from within Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s caucus.
With the Senate’s credibility on the line because of the ongoing spending scandal, Dawson said all senators had extra motivation to deliver a well-researched review, reflecting some previous studies done by the Senate’s transportation and communications committee, including a recent study on air transportation.
Dawson said the CBC review would seek out viewers and stakeholders across the country and evaluate feedback on the service they are getting from the public broadcaster. Senators also would hear from CBC management as well as its competitors from the private sector as part of the proposed review, Dawson said.
Rogers Communications outbid the CBC last week on a 12-year television deal that calls for $5.2 billion in payments for exclusive broadcast rights of the NHL’s regular-season and playoff games. As part of the deal, the CBC would be allowed to continue broadcasting Saturday night games over the next four years but would turn over the costs and ad revenues to Rogers.
“We’re going into this with an open mind to look carefully at what the CBC’s capacity is in a changing environment; where it is and where it needs to be in order to remain competitive, and to be able to provide the cutting edge cultural broadcasting, which is the mandate the CBC has had now for decades, on behalf of Canadians,” said Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, a deputy chairman of the Senate transportation and communications committee. “Senators have been in the news, as parliamentarians have been in the news, for quite a while now and we will continue to be in the news, and that will not impede us from conducting our job as parliamentarians.”
Housakos said the Senate committee also wants to examine how the public broadcaster is using government funding of about $1 billion per year, and what it would need to remain relevant and competitive.