OTTAWA – The newly minted ministers of Prime Minister Trudeau’s first cabinet received their ministerial mandate letters this week, detailing his expectations and their priorities.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Singh Bains’ letter said that his “overarching goal will be to help Canadian businesses grow, innovate and export so that they can create good quality jobs and wealth for Canadians”.
His top priorities, as they pertain to the Canadian communications industry, include:
– Improve the quality of publicly available data in Canada. This will require working with Statistics Canada, the President of the Treasury Board and other departments…
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OTTAWA – Two names in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new 30-member cabinet will be of particular interest to Canada’s communication industry.
The role of Industry Minister has vanished, as the PM opted to mesh the ministries of science and technology and Industry Canada under the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development. Navdeep Singh Bains (Mississauga-Malton, ON) was named minister of that portfolio.
After entering federal politics in 2004 as MP for Mississauga–Brampton South, Bains served as parliamentary secretary to the PM and a Liberal critic for various portfolios. He is Certified Management Accountant, holds an MBA with a specialization in finance,…
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WITH THE ELECTION OVER WITH, there will be debate and discussion around the priorities of the new Liberal government with regard to shaping communications and digital policy.
I suspect that, perhaps with the exception of more funding for the CBC, and a few other election promises, communications will not be an immediate priority for the transition team or for Cabinet. It’s not that communications/digital policy isn’t relevant, whether in respect of competition and choice, price, culture, accessibility, economic growth, innovation in IT or jobs. It’s just these things are not seen, politically, to be broken enough, particularly on the carriage…
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PEOPLE ARE ALREADY CALLING Justin Trudeau our first “selfie” Prime Minister. Images of him on the campaign trail – and the day after the election – mugging with various Canadians who have one arm outstretched and the other around our PM-to-be number in the hundreds of thousands. He’ll apparently even click it for you, if you like.
Of course, those snapshots are then uploaded to the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other sharing platform to display to followers around the country and the world. Just Google “Justin Trudeau selfie”.
Invariably, those images ride…
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GATINEAU – After 27 years at the CRTC in various roles, secretary-general John Traversy has decided he will retire as of December 11, 2015.
He has held the position since former SG Robert Morin retired in 2011. Prior to that he was executive director, telecom for five years. The secretary general is the top operations job at the Commission, overseeing all of the administration. Every complaint, submission and other filing which telecom and broadcasting companies make to the Regulator have Traversy’s name at the top.
“Over the years, I had the opportunity to work on countless files in both the Broadcasting…
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TORONTO – As Canadians mark the 35th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope this September, a new Heritage Minute about Terry Fox debuted Tuesday across Bell Media television properties.
Produced by Historica Canada and Calgary-based Corkscrew Media & Stir Films, CTV News’ Lloyd Robertson delivers the Minute’s classic end narration. Days after the Marathon of Hope ended in September 1980, Robertson hosted a star-studded telethon on CTV that raised $10 million, and later served as honorary chairperson of the Terry Fox Run.
"Of all the news stories I've covered, very few have touched me as deeply as the Terry Fox…
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“WHY IS OUR PM SHILLING for Netflix during the first week of our federal election campaign?” I wondered when I saw this video of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
We learned in the video tweeted early yesterday evening that one of his all-time favourite TV shows is Breaking Bad, reminding us it “is even available on some online streaming services, if you’ve never seen it.” Well, it’s only available for streaming online from Netflix (not some), unless you want to purchase individual episodes for download from Google Play or iTunes.
Oh, it’s also available on demand from our…
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TORONTO — CBC/Radio-Canada announced today that long-time executive producer Mark Starowicz is leaving the public broadcaster to launch a new career as an independent producer.
In an email circulated to CBC/Radio-Canada employees this morning, Heather Conway, executive vice-president of English services, said Starowicz had informed CBC of his decision several weeks ago but stayed on until the transition of CBC’s documentary unit was completed.
“Over almost five decades at CBC, Mark has become a giant on the Canadian documentary landscape. His vision and talent have guided generations of reporters and documentary producers to deliver award-winning shows,” Conway wrote.
“The programs Mark created…
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OTTAWA – The ongoing rift between CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais and Ontario regional commissioner Raj Shoan appears to have deepened, after Blais allegedly refused to approve Shoan's proposed travel for 2015-16.
According to a Canadian Press report this week, Blais nixed Shoan’s potential trips to Las Vegas, Amsterdam, New York City and Mont Tremblant, travel that totaled $78,000. Shoan later reduced the amount to $48,000 "under protest," describing it instead as a wish list of conferences and meetings from which he invited Blais to pick and choose which ones to approve.
"Given that you have refused to provide me with…
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OTTAWA – Rogers Media resolutely defended its decision to cut all news programming from its ethnic OMNI stations and replace it with current affairs shows before a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday.
Speaking before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley (pictured on CPAC.ca, which streamed the meeting) said the company really had no choice but to make changes to its programming. With viewer consumption patterns moving to digital platforms, the ongoing piracy problem, the significant drop in advertising revenue, as well as a plethora of ethnic specialty channels launched in recent…
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