TORONTO – CTV national affairs correspondent Lisa LaFlamme will replace chief anchor and senior editor Lloyd Robertson behind the anchor desk at CTV National News next year.
Robertson, 76 and North America’s longest-serving network news anchor, announced late Thursday that he will be stepping down from behind the anchor desk after 35 years in the role in the latter half of next year. He will continue to be seen on the network post-2011 in a variety of roles, including as co-host of current affairs series W5.
“There comes a time and this is it! I want to leave a suitable period for my successor to have a smooth and seamless transition”, Robertson said Thursday. "While I’ll be hoisting anchor next year, I’ll be continuing at CTV for some time."
LaFlamme (pictured) began her broadcast career at CTV’s CKCO affiliate in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON in 1988. She will appear in the anchor chair on CTV National News frequently during a year of transition, in addition to Robertson, before she assumes the full-time anchor title.
"To follow in the footsteps of Lloyd Robertson is an enormous honour and extremely humbling," LaFlamme said Friday, in a statement. "He is an institution, the very foundation that fair and honest journalism is built on, and has personally taught me so much about this business that I love. I remain dedicated to upholding the solid tradition that Lloyd has created and preserving CTV National News as Canada’s most trusted news source."
LaFlamme has been a regular fill-in anchor on the newscast since 2003, and was also recently part of CTV’s national broadcast team at the Vancouver Olympics as co-host of Olympic Daytime. For almost a decade, LaFlamme has been on the road as a hard news journalist, covering such stories as the 9/11 attacks on World Trade Centre, the Canadian mission in Afghanistan, Hurricane Katrina’s impact on New Orleans, and more recently, from the World Cup in South Africa. She was also the co-host of CTV’s Canada AM morning show from 2001 through 2003.
"CTV is fortunate to have the strongest news team in the country, so it was natural to promote from within," said Ivan Fecan, CEO of CTV Inc., in a statement. "Lisa is a first-rate journalist. We’ve all seen her hard news coverage around the world and here at home, most recently with the G20. In addition, we’ve seen her as a skilled interviewer and a warm host, especially at Vancouver 2010. This is Lisa’s time and I am sure she will bring all her experience to the anchor position, maintaining CTV National News as Canada’s No.1 national newscast."
