MONTREAL – One of the open questions about CBC/Radio-Canada as it heads into its CRTC licence renewal hearing in November has been the fate of its president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix.
His original five-year contract to head the public broadcaster expires in December of this year and it would be unusual to the extreme to have Lacroix lead the CBC team to a hearing with his personal job status either unknown, or to have a CEO push through a hearing knowing he won’t be in the position a month later.
However, Cartt.ca has determined through a number of Montreal media executive sources who preferred we didn’t name them that M Lacroix has had his contract extended by a year in order to steer the Corp. through the hearing.
It’s not possible to say what will happen after that since the hiring of the CBC president is an appointment from the Prime Minister’s Office. The Department of Canadian Heritage, which would officially make the announcement, has not yet responded to an e-mail asking for confirmation.
UPDATE: Heritage Minister James Moore's press secretary responded to Cartt.ca this afternoon and said the suggestions that Lacroix's term has been extended are false and a decision "will be made in due course."
Expect the CBC to face some tough scrutiny from commissioners and by, we bet, a lot of other interveners over its various regulatory requests and programming decisions come November. Click here for a little more background.
– Greg O’Brien
