CBC employees are not public servants, Lacroix tells finance committee

CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix proposed an amendment to the Conservative government's budget bill that he said would help ensure the broadcaster's independence from cabinet. CBC employees are not public servants, Lacroix said in the letter, and it's “vital” to the Crown corporation that it operate as an independent public broadcaster. In a letter to the House of Commons finance committee, posted on CBC’s website Wednesday, Lacroix said legislation requiring CBC to seek a “negotiating mandate” from the federal Treasury Board for collective bargaining with unions will affect the broadcaster's independence. The budget bill could “potentially embroil the government, our Corporation, and its unions in litigation, a result that could be avoided with an amendment that protects that independence,” Lacroix said. Division 17 of Bill C-60 applies to Crown corporations such as Canada Post, Via Rail, and CBC, and would afford government representatives the right to be present during collective bargaining negotiations between management and the Crown corporations' unions. The bill also gives Treasury Board “veto” power over the hiring of senior management and other non-unionized staff at Crown corporations, The Wire Report reported this month. Lacroix did not suggest a specific amendment in the letter though he said it could be similar to something “which already exists in other legislation.” The bill, introduced in the House of Commons on April 29 and now under study at the finance committee, would strip CBC's board of directors of the “fundamental” responsibilities of ensuring supervision of CBC's activities and its independence from the federal government, Lacroix said. “It is the Board, with its knowledge of the Corporation and its strategy, which is best-equipped to assess the appropriateness of collective agreements and employment agreements within the overall management of the Corporation’s resources,” Lacroix said, adding that the Broadcasting Act gives CBC’s board “explicit authority” to determine the salaries of employees. "The Act also specifies that CBC/Radio-Canada employees are not public servants." The Senate finance committee is conducting a pre-study of the budget bill in anticipation of the Conservative government's aim to pass it into law before summer. Watchdog group the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting also submitted a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday, signed by 14 journalists and academics, including Don Newman and Hugh Winsor, that said changes should be made to C-60 to ensure it does not do “irreparable harm” to CBC’s editorial independence. Along with the letter, the group attached a legal opinion obtained from Toronto media lawyer Bryan MacLeod Rogers, which said C-60 could affect all protections afforded to the public broadcaster under the Broadcasting Act. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty also appeared before the finance committee Wednesday, and said Crown agencies are responsible to cabinet and ultimately voters. "The CBC may think it is a special, independent, Crown agency. This is wrong," Flaherty said. "All Crown agencies have a responsibility through ministers, back to Parliament, to the people of Canada. They can't do whatever they want, particularly with taxpayers money. They can't just go off and pay their executives and pay everybody else whatever they want to pay them." Matthew Conway, press secretary for Treasury Board President Tony Clement, said in an emailed statement to The Wire Report earlier this month that C-60 would not affect CBC funding or its “independent operation,” which he said is “guaranteed” under the Broadcasting Act. He said Division 17 of Bill C-60 is similar to Quebec laws that require the minister of the provincial Treasury Board to sign off on the government's bargaining mandates. Private members' Bill C-461, which would permit the disclosure of salaries and compensation at government institutions, including CBC, was also under discussion in Parliament Wednesday. Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber, sponsor of the private members bill, appeared as a witness before the House of Commons ethics and privacy committee as it opened a study of his private members’ bill. Rathgeber said his bill is not intended to “single out” or “attack” CBC and that it would apply to all government institutions subject to the Access to Information Act. If the bill is adopted by the government, he said, the salaries and responsibilities of upper management at all government institutions would be disclosed. Rathgeber said the bill would lead to greater government transparency and allow Canadians to hold the government accountable for federal public sector salaries and their expenses. In 2011, Rathgeber put questions on the House of Commons order paper seeking the salaries of senior CBC employees Peter Mansbridge, George Stroumboulopoulos, Lacroix and others. Heritage Minister James Moore responded in early 2012, saying the public broadcaster has about 730 employees who earn more than $100,000 a year. In an interview with The Wire Report Wednesday, Rathgeber said his order paper questions arose from questions his constituents had asked him about CBC. “They were mostly issues that had been in the news or issues constituents were worried about, so I compiled the list of questions to put on the order paper,” he said. C-461, tabled in November 2012, would limit CBC’s exemption under the Access to Information Act, which permits it to deny the release of records related to its “journalistic, creative or programming activities.” Rathgeber said the bill would amend the Access to Information Act so that it says CBC can refuse disclosure of CBC’s journalistic, creative or programming information where it affects its “independence.” He said the word “activities” is too broad and allows CBC to withhold more information than necessary. Rathgeber told The Wire Report he expects the bill to be passed, though he did not say when. The private members' bill, if it moves quickly through committee and on to the Senate, could be passed before the summer break. The Conservative government voted for the bill when it passed second reading, while the opposition party members opposed it. Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault is scheduled to appear before the committee May 29 to discuss the bill. —With reporting by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.ca and editing by Simon Doyle at sdoyle@thewirereport.ca

CBC employees are not public servants, Lacroix tells finance committee

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