OTTAWA – The federal government has found a new President and CEO for CBC – Radio Canada.
He’s Hubert T. Lacroix, a Montreal lawyer, former private broadcasting executive and former Radio-Canada basketball colour commentator.
The announcement was made Monday by Heritage Minister Josée Verner, who said Lacroix “possesses the necessary experience and skills to lead Canada’s national public broadcaster”.
“I am confident CBC/Radio-Canada will be well-served by the leadership of Mr. Lacroix,” Verner said in a short statement.
Over at the federally-funded CBC, the news was “welcomed” by CBC Board Chair Tim Casgrain, who, anticipating criticism of the appointment, insisted Lacroix was hired “following an open, thorough and competitive public selection process in which I was directly involved”.
The criticism came moments after, from the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, which expressed dismay, not with the choice so much but with the process.
Friends’ spokesperson Ian Morrison said that Prime Minister Stephen Harper “has retained influence” over the CBC with “a hand-picked selection to replace Jean Chrétien’s man”.
“It is against the national interest for the senior leader of Canada’s public broadcaster to be appointment by a politician,” Morrison said.
Lacroix succeeds Robert Rabinovitch, who will step down Dec. 31 after eight years at the CBC helm.
Casgrain said that over the course of his career in media and business, Lacroix “has shown himself to be a highly effective leader and strategic thinker. His extensive and varied experience will complement the strong leadership, management and talent at CBC/Radio-Canada”.
“He will make sure that CBC/Radio-Canada continues to fulfill its mandate as Canada’s national public broadcaster to inform, enlighten and entertain, and to mirror and champion Canadian culture and identity,” he said.
Lacroix, currently a senior advisor in the Montreal law office of Stikeman Elliott, got most of his broadcasting experience in the private sector.
He was Executive Chairman of Telemedia Corporation from 2000-03, a period when Telemedia sold all its radio properties to Standard Radio. He was then a senior advisor to Telemedia Ventures Inc., a private holding company in the technology, transportation and real estate sectors, from 2003-05.
He is an adjunct professor with the Faculty of Law at l’Université de Montréal, with special interest in securities, and mergers and acquisitions.
His experience with the public network was as a Radio-Canada colour commentator for basketball during the Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1996. During that time he worked for both the radio and television networks.
He was also a regular weekly contributor to the Saturday evening sports show Hebdo-Sports on the radio network of Radio-Canada.
Lacroix is also Board Chair of SFK Pulp Fund, and a director of Zarlink Semiconductor Inc., Transcontinental Inc., and ITS Investments Limited Partnership.
As well, he is a trustee of the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, a trustee of the Martlet Foundation of McGill University, and a director of the Montréal General Hospital Foundation and of the Fonds de développement du Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf.
According to the biography released by Verner’s office, Lacroix was amongst the first directors in Canada to complete the ICD Corporate Governance College program, which is designed to help corporate boards exceed governance standards and create globally competitive, higher performing companies.
