Panel Advising Heritage Minister on Future of CBC Dominated by CBC Veterans

People walk into the CBC building in Toronto in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

A panel advising the government on the future role of the CBC includes the head of LGBT news outlet Pink Triangle Press, a journalist who says he’s never voted, and the chair of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Despite the colourful array of job descriptions, though, the seven-member panel is dominated by four ex-CBC employees with a combined 80 years of experience at the broadcaster, and a former Trudeau Foundation scholar.

The panel of media experts will meet regularly with Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge to discuss “a range of questions dealing with funding, governance and mandate” as she examines the role of Canada’s public broadcaster, the ministry said in a May 13 release.

“This advisory committee, with its diverse perspectives and experiences, will help me fulfil my mandate to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada,” Ms. St-Onge said in the release. “It will be able to better promote our culture, our stories, our languages, our artists, and our creators, while adapting to our rapidly changing broadcast and digital landscape.”

David Skok, a former Toronto Star associate editor who now serves as CEO of business news startup The Logic, said he was “torn” when invited to join the panel, fearing that the job could “undermine The Logic’s reputation for impartiality and editorial independence.”

“I believe that democracy requires a free and independent press—so much so that while I have spoiled ballots, I have never voted, donated to any political campaign or publicly supported any political party or government,” Mr. Skok wrote about the panel on his news site.

He said he was persuaded to join the panel after Ms. St-Onge and her team pledged it would be non-partisan, although he wasn’t initially told who the other panel members would be.

Prominent among the CBC veterans on the panel is Jennifer McGuire, currently the managing director of Pink Triangle Press, which covers LGBT issues. McGuire is the former editor-in-chief of CBC News, and the longest-serving employee in that role, with almost 11 years on that job, according to a bio on the site of her new employer.

Fellow panel member and 14-year CBC veteran Loc Dao, the current executive director of DigiBC, is also a co-founder of the CBC Radio 3 Studio and a former chief digital officer of the National Film Board of Canada. He joins the panel alongside Marie-Philippe Bouchard, who serves as CEO of TV5 Québec Canada since 2016 after a 27-year career in various roles at the CBC and Radio-Canada.

Panel member Jesse Wente, chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, worked for almost 27 years for the CBC, including a 20-year stint broadcasting on film and pop culture for CBC Radio One’s Metro Morning.

Catalina Briceno, a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal with no CBC positions on her curriculum, will serve as a specialist on the panel in the field of digital transition of media. Mike Ananny, an associate professor of communication and journalism at the University of Southern California Annenberg and a former scholar of the Trudeau Foundation, will also serve on the panel.

CBC President Catherine Tait is seeking a long-term financial structure for the public broadcaster as it faces competition from foreign tech giants and declining ad revenue. She recently told a House of Commons committee that she’s looking forward to talking with the panel about the broadcaster’s challenges.

The company expects a $20 million shortfall for the 2024-25 fiscal year, despite laying off 141 employees and eliminating 205 vacant positions since December, Ms. Tait said.

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to defund the CBC if elected, accusing the broadcaster of biased programming with taxpayer money.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.