OTTAWA – Partisan politics were on full display during Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore’s appearance before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage yesterday. While Moore was there to talk about the mandate and funding of the CBC/Radio-Canada, a good part of his time was spent responding to criticisms regarding the appointment of Tom Pentefountas as vice-chair broadcasting at the CRTC.
During Moore’s hour in front of the committee, the chair had to interject a number of times to ensure MPs remained on track with their questions. The committee also passed a motion requesting that Pentefountas appear to answer questions regarding his relationship to the Conservative Party. Pentefountas has no prior broadcasting experience on his resume.
Liberal committee member Pablo Rodriguez kicked off the questions by noting that Moore had previously said Pentefountas was a good candidate because he didn’t have any broadcasting experience and therefore would have no conflict of interest.
“Youppi, the Habs mascot, doesn’t have any experience and no conflict of interest. Would he be a good candidate for the CRTC?” Rodriguez asked.
“I find it a little rich for you to say that our government is engaging partisan appointments,” Moore responded, noting that Pierre Gingras, a former Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) member in the Quebec legislature, was appointed to the CBC/Radio-Canada’s board of directors through the same process, yet didn’t receive the level of criticism. Both Gingras’ and Pentefountas’ appointments occurred in the same week.
Bloc Québécois MP Carole Lavallée pressed Moore on Pentefountas, pointing to the job description. “The vice-chairman has to support the chair in carrying out his leadership role, in assuming the responsibility regarding broadcasting as well as to provide support to the senior executive level. I’m wondering what you found in that job description which lead you to believe that Mr. Pentafountas would be able to fulfill that mandate?” she asked.
“In my view he’s qualified, he’s competent and we replaced a Quebecer with another Quebecer to ensure Canadians diversity and linguistic diversity at the CRTC. I believe he’ll do an excellent job,” he said. “He is well-known, he’s responsible, he’s bilingual, he’s well educated and in my view will do an excellent job.”
The naming of Pentefountas, a former president of the right leaning provincial Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), has sparked a maelstrom of outrage from opposition MPs who believe the Conservative government is deliberately trying to undermine the independence of the broadcast and telecom regulator.
The feds and the CRTC have clashed in recent years, most notably Cabinet’s decision to overturn the commission’s ruling on Globalive Wireless’ ownership structure. And in the last few weeks, the government has said that it will in no way shape or form accept usage-based billing for the country’s ISPs.
Prior to the naming of Pentefountas to the vice-chair broadcasting position, there were other candidates under consideration. Apparently, commissioner Louise Poirier didn’t make the cut because it was thought her ties to Conservative MP and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon (they were both Gatineau city councilors) could make for poor political optics. Michel Morin was in play, but ultimately was dismissed, too, according to sources.
According to other Ottawa sources, the government also considered other qualified industry candidates such as Luc Perreault, VP of communications and regulatory affairs for MétéoMédia/The Weather Network; Sylvie Courtemanche, VP of government relations for Corus Entertainment; and Edouard Trepanier, formerly head of regulatory at Quebecor Media were all under consideration, but all declined largely because of the restrictions resulting from the Lobbyist Registration Act. Those say anyone who works for a government agency must wait five years after that employment ends before taking a job in the industry that agency oversees.
