Trudeau says Bell decision to cut jobs is “garbage”; CNOC not surprised

Reaction has been swift and condemnatory to the announcement Thursday by BCE Inc. that it is laying off 4,800 workers, selling 45 radio stations and slashing news programming on its networks, all the while increasing the dividend to shareholders. The chair of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) did not like the moves but said it wasn’t unexpected. “It’s not surprising,” Paul Andersen of Egate Networks Inc. told The Wire Report. “They continue to say that regulatory impact is impacting their investment. We continue to disagree that that’s going to change materially how networks roll out.” During Thursday’s conference call, Bell chief legal and regulatory officer Robert Malcolmson laid the blame squarely at the feet of the federal government and the CRTC in particular. “I just don’t understand how wholesale regulation of fibre impacted their results,” Andersen riposted. “At this time there's no wholesale fibre on their network.” He dismissed the claims that the commission bears any responsibility for the BCE outcome. “The CRTC has been showing leadership following minister Champagne’s policy direction to bring consumers choice and affordability,” the CNOC chair asserted. John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, also wondered why the commission was in Bell’s crosshairs. “I think it’s an intimidation tactic as much for the CRTC and the government as it is a rational quote unquote business decision,” he said to The Wire Report. “These guys are very aggressive these days. I think it’s an overreaction to having to do a little bit of wholesaling and we’re not even sure what money they’re going to get for it.” He blamed the coddling of telecoms under previous administrations for the sense of entitlement in the industry. He took particular aim at the dividend issue. “They feel entitled to their 40 per cent return on equity and they got used to it with the Ian Scott regime so it’s like over their dead body they’re going to let this happen” he noted. The political reaction was scathing. The topic came up in Question Period Thursday and Friday. “I’m pretty pissed off about what’s just happened,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a Toronto news conference on Friday. “This is the erosion not just of journalism, of quality journalism at a time where people need it more than ever.” He took the company to task for raising the dividend. “I’m furious,” he continued. “This was a garbage decision by a corporation that should know better.” Equally scatalogical was British Columbia Premier David Eby who called BCE and others “corporate vampires” on Thursday. “They have overseen the crapification of local news by laying off journalists,” he said at a news conference. In the House of Commons Friday, the Bloc Québécois raised the issue again. MP Claude DeBellefeuille said the 4,800 layoffs come on the heels of the cuts of 500 jobs at Quebecor Inc. and 600 positions at CBC/Radio-Canada. She urged the government to act. Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge replied that the government has been taking action for the past eight years and thanked the BQ for its support. She pointed to the Online News Act and the Online Streaming Act as legislation that benefited the media sector. The day before, BQ heritage critic Martin Champoux renewed his call for support for broadcasters similar to that extended to newspapers. “Meanwhile, there is no emergency funding, as the Bloc Québécois called for this fall. There are no tax credits for electronic media modelled on what is already offered to print media,” he said in French. “How many more workers will have to be sacrificed before the minister realizes that Bill C‑18 will not save news media in Quebec?” The minister vowed to keep up the pressure on Bell. “Now, my colleague knows very well that the CRTC gave $40 million a year in relief to Bell Canada so that it could continue to produce its newscasts,” St-Onge responded according to a translation. “Bell Canada is still making billions of dollars in profit this year. It is up to them to fulfill their commitment to continue to provide news to the entire population. We will not give more taxpayer money to a billionaire corporation.” Meanwhile, on Friday ZoomerMedia Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy CJOS-FM in Owen Sound Ont. from Bell Media. The deal still needs regulatory approval. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Trudeau says Bell decision to cut jobs is “garbage”; CNOC not surprised

News | February 9, 2024

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Trudeau says Bell decision to cut jobs is “garbage”; CNOC not surprised

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