NDP statement following announcement regarding appointments to the Board of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The NDP Critic for Culture and Heritage, Pierre Nantel, made the following statement :

“After 18 months in power, we were hoping for more than smoke and mirrors. When you think of it, Mélanie Joly hsa taken a long time to develop this new consultation process. Despite this new process, new criteria, and the skills of those appointed, the Minister still has the final say and could decide not listen to the committee’s recommendations. The Liberals’ recent nomination of Madeleine Meilleur, makes it hard for us to trust that this government will not make partisan appointments. That includes the positions that need to be filled on the CBC’s Board of Directors. After all, the Minister justified Madeleine Meilleur’s nomination using the same process that she announced today..

Additionally, the new consultation process has no timeline. We therefore still don’t know when the minister will move forward with these long-awaited appointments. It is becoming more and more clear that CBC figures very low down on her list of priorities. This is disappointing, as this year will be very busy with the sale and construction of the new Radio-Canada tower in Montreal. It will take a well-functioning and renewed Board to oversee all of this. Sadly, there is nothing in this announcement that leads me to believe that her priorities have changed.

Once again, the Liberals are doing what they’ve always done since the beginning of their term: announce a new process to buy some time and to look good, yet fail to deliver on any concrete actions to fix the problem.”