OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada issued a press release today in an attempt to correct a story published Friday on the Canadaland website which claimed CBC’s president, Catherine Tait, lives in Brooklyn.
The story has been picked up by other media, including The National Post and Le Devoir, and has circulated on other websites such as The Post Millennial and others.
“Canadaland claims its assertion is ‘based on information from sources’. If so, those ‘sources’ did not read the Broadcasting Act, which states: ‘Sec 38 (1) A person is not eligible to be appointed or to continue as a director if the person is not a Canadian citizen who is ordinarily resident in Canada’. In fact, when Catherine Tait was appointed as President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, the initial Order-in-Council did not provide a start date; that was because Ms. Tait was required to sell her private business and move back to Canada before she could begin her new role. Ms. Tait did this and began her term as President on July 3, 2018,” reads the CBC/Radio-Canada press release.
“On March 29 of this year, Ms. Tait travelled to New York to care for her husband, who lives there and had undergone a medical procedure. She worked from there until June 8, when she returned home to Ottawa. She went to New York a second time on November 13, again to care for her husband, and will be returning home to Ottawa on December 27, 2020. This travel was done with the knowledge of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Board of Directors. Ms. Tait did not ask for or receive any special exemption from the government for her travel and continues to follow all quarantine requirements,” continues the press release.
“All of this information was provided to Canadaland, including the fact that prior to this year, Ms. Tait has travelled to New York a total of three weekends and for Christmas. In response to our correction request, Canadaland added only a ‘clarification’ that its information is ‘disputed by the CBC’.
“Canadians should have the facts,” concludes the release.
CBC/Radio-Canada has recently resorted to issuing press releases to correct claims in other news media, including one December 4 concerning the state of its finances and another on October 26 regarding its funding from the federal government.
