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Court Orders CBC To Cough Up Records

7K views 138 replies 19 participants last post by  groovetube 
#1 ·
Finally our taxpayer funded CBC is ordered to do the right thing and tell us how they spend our money.

OTTAWA - The state broadcaster was ordered to play nice with the parliamentary officer it spurned in a court ruling that orders the CBC to produce access documents the network doesn't want anyone to see because they could shed light on wasteful spending.

The Federal Court of Appeal said Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault has the legal authority to determine whether access to information requests the CBC wants kept under wraps should be released.

Wednesday's unanimous three-judge ruling upheld a Federal Court judgment against the broadcaster.

While agreeing with the lower court that section 68.1 of the access law is not a "model of clarity" and is a "recipe for controversy," the appeal court said it's clear enough that the CBC shouldn't be "ignoring" its duty by withholding records without having bothered to look at requested documents.

Section 68.1 permits the CBC to withhold information pertaining to programming, creative and journalistic activities, but because it opted for legal action rather than let Legault see the records, no one knows whether guidelines are being misused to hide extravagant spending.

Justice Marc Noel noted the act requires the CBC to look at records before deciding whether they should be released. The same issue was raised at a Commons committee investigating the CBC's refusal to tell Canadians how it spends $1.16 billion of their money.

MPs were shocked to learn the CBC was invoking section 68.1 on a whim without checking records.
Court orders CBC to cough up records
 
#2 ·
With all that resistance, you just know there's going to be some spectacular "expenses". It should be interesting.

Another good move...
The federal government introduced long-promised legislation Wednesday that will make it mandatory for First Nations chiefs and band councillors to publish their salaries.
With the Billions poured into First Nations and people still living in shacks, its about time they make the leadership accountable for where they're spending the cash.

Cheers
MacGuiver
 
#4 ·
With the Billions poured into First Nations and people still living in shacks, its about time they make the leadership accountable for where they're spending the cash.
Yes! Chiefs roll around in expensive cars, big rich homes and don't give any money to band. The gov't should not give money to the chiefs but give out money to each person individually. They have abused the money for far too long and their own people live poor and desolate.
 
#3 ·
The problem with the CBC is they are run by corrupt Union folk..
My experiences with them were eye opening..
they are given a budget to work with .. which in my opinion is far to big.. ( so they spent it to the last penny or more - otherwise they will not receive it next year - meaning they purchasing and wasting money on un-needed items )not to mention.. the purchaser always asked after every order : "what do I get" - i would always show a copy of the PO, then they would say "ok, but what do I get?"
I knew what they meant - I did not play that way.. I repeated "lets go through the PO again"
but sadly in this investigation - it would be impossible to prove either of my experiences..
so the bloated pig that CBC is - will continue in its ways.
 
#7 ·
the purchaser always asked after every order : "what do I get" - i would always show a copy of the PO, then they would say "ok, but what do I get?"
I knew what they meant - I did not play that way.. I repeated "lets go through the PO again"
but sadly in this investigation - it would be impossible to prove either of my experiences..
so the bloated pig that CBC is - will continue in its ways.

Sorry, but that's not the CBC, that's Federal Government finance rules and accountability. When something is ordered in the federal government, it has to be proven that it's been received, BEFORE it's paid for. They have to follow them, like the rest of the federal government.

Some people apparently want to track the government's spending (go figure), so therefore they have to make sure they can prove and justifiy they're costs.

Trust me, it's ALWAYS fun dealing with government financial people. You don't have your I's dotted and your T's crossed and you'll be redoing your paperwork or paying the price.
 
#5 ·
Finally our taxpayer funded CBC is ordered to do the right thing and tell us how they spend our money.
Ooooh, this should be juicy.....

End result? Sun TV will be revived and get "Hockey Night in Canada" with Don Cherry thrown in.
 
#6 ·
Long overdue, on both accounts (CBC & First Nations).
 
#10 ·
How convenient

Does anyone recall the torture issue regarding Afghan detainees.

Not only did the Tories not disclose documents to parliament regarding torture, but they actually blacked out much of the documents and even had a minister caught for altering the actual text - essentially fraud.

All this while they destroyed a man's reputation because he actually spoke out for justice.:clap::clap::clap:
 
#15 ·
sure, I don't think anyone doesn't think the CBC shouldn't be, transparent. But it seems lost at times that the only real time they seem insistent on any transparency is when it has to do with something they don't like. Not that that isn't common in other governments, but the promise of any real transparency is pretty hollow.
 
#23 ·
I was under the impression that the cbc news network wasn't, tax payer funded.

And I think I am bang on in my last post, because I don't see you, nor any other con supporter here expressing the same sort of outrage you express at every liberal misuse of tax money at the clear obvious pork barreling and misuse going on in Harper's government.

That, makes my post true. Sorry.
 
#25 ·
typical conservative response. Plug the ears, sing a la la, no I don't want to hear about the obvious.

Not ONE of you has ever questioned the obvious misuse of tax dollars by the conservatives. That is until the focus hit's the "sacred cow"

I say, open the books. Make it accountable. At no point, have I ever suggested it shouldn't be. Sacred cow or no, it should be any different than say Tony Clement's misuse of 50 million bucks, just, for starters.

There's a post that'll fly right over a few heads.
 
#29 ·
No it isn't.

I'm sorry, but you didn't address that the news network is funded primarily by other means. By subscriber fees I believe that means the fees that other cable channels also receive.

And please, don't resort to telling me suck on anything. That really isn't necessary.
 
#33 ·
I was not referring to the cable news division and you know that full well. I am referring to the full network, not a tiny portion that happens to break even with help from cable fees.

Odd that the amount of times you use this: :baby: you can't take it when it is tossed back in another form. It means absorb, by the way. ;)
 
#43 ·
IMHO, the whole idea of public broadcasting is a leftover from post second world war and cold war era mentality.

Over the years however, the CBC has grown into a massive, costly and entrenched bureaucracy equivalent to the American post 9/11 NSA, with the only exception being that the CBC is not armed. LOL

For a long time I was a fence sitter regarding privatization, but lately I think it's time to fully privatize the broadcaster. There's plenty of interest in both the TV, radio and northern service from private parties. Get on with it.
 
#46 ·
you're right jimbo, the majority of Canadians like and want the CBC. That just ticks off these cons, who think that because a handful of them detest the CBC that they can just wipe it out.

Good luck with that. Didn't Mulroney find this out before? Should indeed be interesting to watch. Though first we'll be treated with howls of indignation of what the CBC spent money on, from the very ones who have been proven to waste far more. Oh but that's ok, they're fighting the good fight!

But no we don't want to dismantle Harper. You will notice as well that not one peep came of my comment that NOT ONE of these cons who are soooo concerned about the CBC has said one word about the unbelievable misuse of our tax dollars by the Harper government.

NOT ONE. That should tell all you need to know about the motives of these so called conservatives.
 
#48 ·
Yes CBC is wildly popular. These are last weeks most viewed programs by Canadians. The 4 in bold are on CBC and the rest are from private broadcasters. The private broadcasters pretty much sweep the viewership statistics.

1 BIG BANG THEORY
2 SURVIVOR:S.PACIFIC
3 GREY'S ANATOMY
4 C.S.I.
5 AMAZING RACE 19
6 H.N.I.C. GAME #1
7 HOUSE
8 NCIS: LOS ANGELES
9 DANCING/STARS 13 PRF
10 CASTLE
11 DANCING/STARS 13 RES
12 UNFORGETTABLE
13 THE MENTALIST
14 CTV EVENING NEWS
15 GLEE
16 ONCE UPON A TIME
17 WHITNEY
18 HAW AII FIVE-O
19 BONES
20 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
21 THE X FACTOR PERF
22 BLUE BLOODS
23 NCIS
24 TWO AND A HALF MEN
25 GRIMM
26 BIG BANG THEORY
27 BATTLE OF THE BLADES
28 DRAGONS' DEN
29 H.N.I.C. PRE-GAME

30 FLASHPOINT
 
#50 ·
Of course you're assuming the CBC is only a TV station. You might have a look at alexa for cbc.ca's ranking and then there's CBC Radio number 1 or near number 1 in every major market in Canada from east to west to north to south not including the international crowd.


Out of top 30 you have chosen I watched #6 live Habs game. And I catch the rare 28 online. I watch news and docs. Like the at issue panel with Chantal Hebert.
 
#53 ·
That's fine, but then you support it financially through subscriptions or some other "pay per view" system. Don't make us (the "larger" collective us) pay for programming you want to watch ad free but no one else does. Free broadcasting works off of advertising revenue, that's the current paradigm, so unless that somehow changes, keep the tax dollars out of it.
 
#55 ·
Is that all you got left...personal jabs and snipes? You clearly use the only thing left to you as you do not have a cogent argument to the contrary.

....and yes I support the CBC also, but as a privatized enterprise.
 
#58 ·
I frankly think that Canadians want the CBC, although they may want it's budget trimmed. I think quite a few of us watch the CBC as well as other Canadian networks. BUT (and that's a big BUT), if they were to privatize it, I think they should put half of the CBC's budget in the CMF (Canada Media Fund) which in my view is a good vehicle for producing and promoting Canadian TV shows.
 
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