Thursday, August 2, 2007

A new President and CEO for CBC/Radio-Canada?


I noticed the above advertisement in the "Careers" section of the July 27th edition of the Globe and Mail. It was also in the July 28 (Saturday) edition.

CBC/Radio-Canada is recruiting a new President and Chief Executive Officer? At first I thought that the CBC Radio Two listener revolt had borne fruit and that Mr. Robert Rabinovitch, finally recognizing that CBC Radio has betrayed its listeners in revamping the Radio Two programming, had tendered his resignation. Mr. Robert Rabinovitch had, I thought, at last behaved honourably and had recognized that although he may not have been directly responsible for these programming changes, as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the corporation he was ultimately accountable for the behaviour of CBC management and had decided to resign as an act of contrition. Bravo, Mr. Rabinovitch!

But then I searched for news of Mr. Rabinovitch's resignation. I checked the National Post and the Globe and Mail. I looked on the CBC web site. I did a Google search. There was no mention of Mr. Rabinovitch's resignation. The only item I could find is the statement that "The Government of Canada is seeking to recruit a new President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada. Please click here to view the selection criteria for the position of President and CEO." on the Board of Directors page of the CBC web site.

I quickly realized that this recruiting campaign must be a mere formality. Mr. Rabinovitch's current term as President and CEO expires in November 2007, since he was reappointed for another three year term in November 2004. I expect that Mr. Rabinovitch is the favoured candidate for another three year term, beginning in November 2007. Thus the low-key recruitment campaign.

Oh, well, I thought, back to the trenches of the CBC Radio Two listener uprising. We former CBC Radio Two listeners will just have to slog on and continue voicing our requests for CBC Radio management to return to the quality programming that CBC Radio Two featured prior to the March 19 2007 programming changes.

But then I had a further thought. If the CBC is in fact soliciting candidates for the President and CEO position, then presumably they should be willing to accept comments on the performance of the current President and CEO, assuming that he is also a candidate for the position? In that case, who is better qualified to comment on the performance of the current President and CEO than the shareholders of the corporation, i.e. the listeners and viewers of CBC Radio and TV? If Mr. Robert Rabinovitch is seeking reappointment to another term as President and CEO, then your opinon and my opinion on his performance in the job must surely carry some weight during the selection process?

So, if you believe Mr. Rabinovitch has excelled during his term of office - if you believe that the relations between management and staff of CBC are improved, if you believe CBC meets your needs as a television viewer or radio listener, if you believe that the quality of programming has improved and you believe that the CBC is responsive to your opinions as a viewer/listener, shareholder in the corporation and taxpayer of Canada, why not write to the recruiter and let them know this?

On the other hand, if you believe that the CBC is not adequately serving the needs and interests of Canadians, that CBC Radio management is not attempting to solicit the opinions of the CBC Radio listening audience in a manner which allows the listening audience to have a meaningful voice in the choice of programming, that CBC Radio management is making programming decisions which do not reflect the needs and interests of Canadians and is doing so based on information that they are unwilling to share with the CBC Radio listening audience and that CBC Radio management is unwilling to let listeners comment on the programming changes that have already been made and is operating CBC Radio in an aura of secrecy that is not acceptable for Canada's public broadcasting system, then you should also write to the recruiter and let them know your opinion. (You may view my opinions on this topic in my letter to the Minister of Heritage, Bev Oda, in my May 17 blog entry.) After all, your opinion as a CBC listner/viewer, taxpayer and shareholder in the corporation should count, shouldn't it?

As noted in the job ad, interested candidates have until August 13 2007 to forward their CV. I assume that the recruiter will also welcome comments from interested parties on potential candidates until this date. The addresses provided in the ad are as follows:

Egon Zehnder International Inc.
BCE Place
181 Bay Street, Suite 3920
Toronto, ON
M5J 2T3

Egon Zehnder International Inc.
1 Place Ville-Marie, Suite 3310
Montreal, PQ
H3B 3N2

Egon Zehnder International Inc.
Petro-Canada West Tower
150-6th Avenue S.W., Suite 3000
Calagary, AB
T2P 3Y7

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