Del Mastro fires at CBC over transparency; Lacroix says a ‘campaign’ against it

OTTAWA—The CBC is “fuelling the attacks” against it by continuing a court dispute over access to information requests, Dean Del Mastro, Conservative MP and parliamentary secretary to the heritage minister, said Tuesday at the House heritage committee. “I think it looks very badly on the CBC that when it releases requests they’re largely blanked out. They don’t actually respond to the answers that the is looking for,” Del Mastro said following a presentation from the CBC as part of the committee’s study of vertical integration in the private television sector. The public broadcaster has said it will appeal a September Federal Court decision giving the Office of the Information Commissioner the authority to order the CBC to produce records. The CBC argues section 68.1 of the Access to Information Act allows it to exclude some records to protect its journalistic and programming independence. Del Mastro said the CBC lacks transparency when answering access to information requests. “I think the CBC should be as open as a book. It should be completely transparent because you serve the public, you are owned by the public,” he said. “Do you see that you are fuelling the attack against you by taking it to court rather than simply answering the questions?” Quebecor Media Inc.’s news agency QMI has reported that the CBC refused to release records about its business and hospitality expenses. Del Mastro said the broadcaster should be open about the expenses. But Hubert Lacroix, president and CEO of the CBC, said Tuesday that the broadcaster “believes in transparency," is not afraid to reveal its expenses, and that the requests are part of a "campaign" against it. Lacroix said the CBC is appealing the court decision to better define what is included under the reporting exemption in Section 68.1 of the act. “Sixty-eight point-one is not about my expenses; 68.1 is about principles that are so important that we want a judge to interpret the scope and spirit of what that represents,” he said. “We will answer the requests if they are in the spirit and in the scope of 68.1.” He said a large amount of the requests come from Quebecor. “To try to speculate on what the rationale behind their campaign is would be beyond my knowledge,” he said. Lacroix said every time a competitor “attacks” the CBC, it benefits the competitor’s properties. He added that Quebec is a competitive market where broadcasters are competing for the French-language audience. “There’s an interesting relationship between Quebecor and Radio-Canada in the Quebec markets,” he said. A Quebecor spokesperson could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening. Lacroix said he estimates the CBC has received almost 1,000 access-to-information requests filed on behalf of Quebecor. The CBC cannot obtain information on who files requests, but Lacroix said he bases his calculations on information in the QMI news service. On Nov. 25, the CBC made 1,200 access to information records available on its website, some of which contain information about expenses. The dispute between the CBC and the Office of the Information Commissioner arose after the office received 16 complaints about documents the CBC refused to release under the exemption. QMI has reported it filed complaints about the CBC’s practices with the office. On Nov. 26, CBC won a second court case against David Statham, director at Michel Drapeau Law Office, in which Statham accused the CBC of not meeting the 30-day deadline to respond to access to information requests. The CBC said in a release that Statham submitted almost 400 requests on behalf of Quebecor. As of Nov. 19, the CBC had responded to 1,201 of 1,260 access to information requests. Lacroix also told the committee Tuesday that the CBC supports regulation to prevent vertical integration in the broadcasting sector. He said vertically integrated companies can use undue preference when choosing which channels to carry on their satellite services or where they place a competitor’s channel on their cable line-up. Lacroix also said he is concerned about Internet service providers throttling the CBC’s content online. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Del Mastro fires at CBC over transparency; Lacroix says a ‘campaign’ against it

Broadcast | December 8, 2010

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