Liberal-appointed Sen. Percy Downe on Tuesday told the Senate Transport and Communications Committee regulatory oversight Canada’s state broadcaster lacks integrity. Downe’s remarks followed an admission by the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that it would never pull the CBC’s television licence regardless of whether it follows the rules, per Blacklock’s Reporter. “It’s a complete charade,” Downe told the committee. “Well-meaning Canadians are sitting down, sending in submissions. The CBC is making commitments they have no intention to keep.”Scott Shortliffe, executive director of broadcast policy with the CRTC, acknowledged regulators would never pull the CBC’s licence under the Broadcasting Act.“In terms of our inability to deny them, that is correct,” said Shortliffe.The CBC in 2020 was cited for breach of its broadcasting licence when it temporarily cancelled TV newscasts in 13 local markets. Management at the time called the local news blackout, the first since 1952, a pandemic safety measure. Local newscasts were off the air from March 18, 2020 to June 15.Downe said the blackout left Prince Edward Islanders without any local TV newscast. “No private sector TV station in Canada made a similar decision,” he said. “It was only the CBC, publicly funded by the taxpayers of Canada including taxpayers in Prince Edward Island, who were affected by this decision.”“That was in direct violation of their broadcasting licence. The CRTC had set conditions. They had minimum hours of local programming and had to have public consultation if they were changing the number of hours on-air. None of that happened.”“Why did the CRTC not impose any penalty on the CBC?” asked Downe. “It concluded this was not an intentional breach of licence,” replied Shortliffe.“The CRTC has hearings, the CBC makes certain commitments, the CRTC makes certain commitments, but under the legislation the CRTC cannot deny the CBC a licence?” asked Downe. “That is correct,” replied Shortliffe.“I am shocked this is allowed to continue,” said Downe. “This is really a scam, in my opinion, where the CRTC takes no action. The CBC is in violation of its licence, the CRTC takes no action and they go through this charade.”Shortliffe said the CRTC in theory “could impose an administrative monetary penalty on them,” but added, “That is somewhat more complex than it would be for any other player because we would have to have a public hearing and make a report to the Minister of Canadian Heritage who would have to lay it before Parliament for 15 days. But we do have those tools.” The maximum penalty is $15 million.“Have you ever fined the CBC?” asked Downe. “We have not,” replied Shortliffe.Conservative-appointed Sen. Leo Housakos chair of the transport and communications committee, noted the CBC’s main source of revenue is a $1.4 billion annual parliamentary grant. “We have laws, we have regulations, and we’re not applying them,” he said. “We are defeating the purpose of accountability.”“Why is the CRTC continuing to cut them slack?” asked Housakos. “We are hoping the CBC has learned from what happened and can do better,” replied Shortliffe.
