MP wants to quiz CBC bosses

MP wants to quiz CBC bosses

By BRIAN LILLEY, Parliamentary Bureau

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP wants to have CBC and its record on access to information studied by a Commons committee.

Paul Calandra, an MP from Oak Ridges-Markham just outside of Toronto, tabled a motion Friday to have the Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee, “study access to information at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.”

Calandra will seek support from fellow members of the committee to invite CBC executives and other witnesses to testify on the matter.

“It’s an opportunity to have the CBC come before us and tell their side,” Calandra told QMI Agency.

The Tory MP has said he has been reading a number of stories from QMI Agency on CBC and the broadcaster's attempts to block access of certain documents requested. He also noted CBC’s recent ads promoting a new section of their website devoted to openness and transparency.

“I’m willing to hear both sides but ultimately the taxpayers subsidize the CBC to the tune of a billion a year,” Calandra said. “I know CBC has been running ads telling taxpayers they are excited to be open. This is the ultimate way to tell Canadians - before a parliamentary committee.”

Earlier this week CBC defended its record on access to information requests and complained to the heritage committee that Quebecor, the parent company of QMI Agency, is trying to smear them.

QMI Agency has written a series of stories about CBC and its record on access to information. While CBC maintains it is open and transparent there is an ongoing battle over how liberally the state broadcaster uses exemptions to withhold information.

rosencrentz wrote:THE ASPER HUMAN RIGHTS MUSEUM!!

OTTAWA - MPs will investigate the CBC and how the state broadcaster releases -- and sometimes refuses -- to reveal information to the public.

Conservative, Bloc and New Democrat MPs all voted Tuesday in favour of having the Commons access to information committee study the CBC in the New Year.

“I wanted to make sure that if we are going to study this that we not only bring CBC executives but bring in a broader cross-section of individuals,” said Tory MP Paul Calandra who tabled the motion calling for the study.

“Canadians expect us to show them how their $1.2 billion a year in subsidies to the CBC is being spent and I think it's high time Parliament got down to it.”

Liberal MPs abstained from the vote. Carolyn Bennett told QMI Agency she abstained over how the motion came about not because her party doesn’t want to study how CBC spends tax dollars.

The committee will meet in the new year and select witnesses. Hearings will likely happen in February or March.

QMI has been running a series of stories on problems with access to information at the CBC including refusals to release some information to the public while other requests see all relevant information stripped out.

Liberal MPs abstained from the vote. Carolyn Bennett told QMI Agency she abstained over how the motion came about not because her party doesn’t want to study how CBC spends tax dollars.

Funding of Maclean’s is baffling

By QMI AGENCY

Canadian Senator Vivienne Poy has asked the federal government to axe $1.5 million in annual funding to Maclean’s magazine.

Most Canadians are probably unaware Ottawa gave any of their money to the nation’s most prestigious news magazine. Taxpayer dollars, as far as we know, don’t fund major newspapers, television or radio stations, even Internet sites. Why Macleans?

Poy has asked for the cut because she says here has been enough public outcry about Maclean’s article on university enrolment, spotlighting Asian-Canadian students, to justify it.

Periodicals with offensive content, she says, can be deemed ineligible for federal funding.

She said Maclean’s articles about Quebec corruption and Islamic groups have also offended some of its readers. And in recent weeks city councils in Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver have passed motions demanding an apology from Maclean’s. A Facebook page reportedly lists about 100 groups endorsing a letter opposing racism.

“As Canadians we strongly believe in freedom of the press,” organizer Brad Lee told the Canadian Press. “As taxpayers we don’t want our money spent on a media outlet that misrepresents us.”

This is the problem, of course, when government gets involved with media. Freedom of the press means the right to an opinion, whether it offends some sector of the public or not.

Given the hyper-sensitivity of some sectors of the public, this doesn’t take much.

The media cannot and should not worry about whether people are offended by its stories — so long as they are properly researched and any opinions are fair comment.

Good journalism sometimes offends people, especially those with the fingers pointed their way. It is often the media’s job to tell stories that are unpleasant or involving scandal.

Governments often don’t like the stories media produces, but it’s a strange relationship. One needs the other. Governments, and politicians, need the media to get their messages out to the public. The media needs politicians, and governments, for their stories. The relationship can’t be too cosy, but it can’t be too distant either.

Certainly the federal government will now take a look at its funding arrangement with Maclean’s – if the public outcry is as large as Poy suggests.

But Maclean’s might also want to take a look at its arrangement with Ottawa. Is it worth $1.5 million a year to be under this bright a political light? Could these revenues not be made up the old-fashioned way, through advertising?

The stories on university enrolment, corruption and Islamic organizations will not be the last ones in Maclean’s that offend people or special interest groups.

So if the magazine doesn’t deal with this government-funding dilemma now, it will have to deal with it later.

JTF wrote:....and Jim Flaherty wants us all to tighten our belts eh!!!

WTF...this guy hasn't seen a dumb idea he won't finance (holocaust memorial for example) but he wants us to stop spending foolishly.

Funding Macleans magazine is ridiculous...un-fu uucken-believable as a matter of fact.

He should clean up his own act first imo.