OTTAWA – Canada’s public broadcaster is calling the government’s decision late Thursday to not endorse the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage’s report on CBC/Radio-Canada a “missed opportunity.”
The move would have enabled the government to enhance the accountability and transparency of Canada’s national public broadcaster, said the CBC in a statement released Friday.
A seven-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that links the public broadcaster’s objectives with its services and funding should be signed between the CBC and government, recommends the report, CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in the Changing Media Landscape.
“We are disappointed that the government has not endorsed the committee’s unanimous recommendations,” said CBC President and CEO Hubert Lacroix. “The report is a blueprint for developing the future goals of public broadcasting in Canada.”
Governments around the world have recognized the importance of developing clear strategic directions for their national public broadcasters in multi-year agreements, added the CBC.
“The MOU would provide Canadians with a clear understanding of the future course of their public broadcaster and the resources necessary to provide the services they require,” Lacroix said. “In addition, the MOU improves the corporation’s governance by enabling us to plan our activities and services over more than 12 months and thereby make more efficient use of our resources.”
The CBC media release noted the public broadcaster is facing some critical choices about its future directions, given its resources. The CBC/Radio-Canada believes that it is important that these choices be discussed with government and reflected in an MOU, it added.