TORONTO – Canada’s media unions and associations were united in their criticisms of the CRTC’s broadcast policy changes and licence renewals announced Monday.
Unifor, which represents 12,000 journalists and media workers in television, newspapers, magazines, news websites and film production, said that the decision will allow major broadcasters to make further cuts to local news programming, and called on the federal government to intervene.
"The time for fine speeches from [CRTC Chair] Jean-Pierre Blais about big media's corporate responsibility is over”, said Unifor media director Howard Law, in a statement. “A cabinet directive is needed to do for local TV what the CRTC lacks the will to do."
Unifor did, however, applaud the CRTC’s decision to revive the daily newscasts in Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Italian at the Rogers OMNI stations, saying OMNI’s “continued viability is essential”.
The Writers Guild of Canada said that the CRTC's decision to roll back broadcasters’ minimum financial contributions to Canadian drama and other programing could devastate Canadian domestic production.
“These cuts potentially amount to over a $200 million loss for PNI over a five-year licence term”, said WGC executive director Maureen Parker, in that statement. “Canadian screenwriters only work on domestic productions, not on American shows filming in Canada, and if there is not enough work for them they will simply leave. Once our talent pool is gone you can’t get it back.”
That sentiment was echoed by Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), which represents professional performers working in the English-language recorded media.
“We are very concerned about the future of Canadian production and our members’ jobs”, said ACTRA National executive director Stephen Waddell. “ACTRA is clearly disappointed the concerns our talented members brought forward were not listened to. As we noted in our submission, Programs of National Interest will continue to be under-represented without an increase in expenditure requirements. Instead of heeding our warning, the Commission went in the opposite direction.”
Waddell added that ACTRA is looking forward to a new direction at the CRTC. “Canadian performers need a change from the legacy of disastrous decisions we’ve seen from the current Chair,” he added.
