Where do you think the rumor originated? From the Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal!
The staff and management of Radio-Canada’s French network really must have had enough of the bright personality of its current CEO, Ms. Catherine Tait, to spread such a rumor on the day that Sophie Brochu, CEO of Hydro-Québec, announces that she will end her mandate two years early. As if the fact of repetition could accredit it, the rumor was dared to be repeated in several of the emissions that followed the news of Ms Brochu’s resignation.
It’s an open secret that the atmosphere in the French network’s new glass cage, Boulevard René-Lévesque in Montreal, isn’t at its best. Although the Board of Directors of CBC/Radio-Canada Minister Pablo Rodriguez (he is replying to Parliament for the public broadcaster) has sent a letter recommending the extension of Catherine Tait’s mandate (she was appointed to five years on April 3, 2018) , we don’t seem in too much of a hurry to do it on the 12th floor of rue Eddy in Gatineau.
Because with Ms. Tait, the gulf between the two CBC/Radio Canada networks has widened even further. While she speaks impeccable French, Ms. Tait has no greater grasp of Quebec culture than the Anglophone CEOs before her.
Excuses too many
Settled in New York with her husband for years, she brought with her a Yankee spirit that the Toronto milieu adapts to fairly well but does very poorly in Montreal. Forcing the management of the French channel to present Ricardo Lamour with the public apologies that the CRTC had (wrongly) demanded didn’t help her news stars. Imagine, oh scandal! that Annie Desrochers’ radio show mentioned the title of Pierre Vallières’ essay, Nègres blancs d’Amérique, four times.
Ms. Brochu’s resignation has shed an unexpected ray of sunshine into Radio-Canada’s glass cage. In their wildest dreams, several heads of the French broadcaster are certain that all the stars are pointing towards Ms Brochu’s arrival at the helm of CBC/Radio-Canada. Doesn’t Catherine Tait’s mandate end on April 3? Lucky coincidence, on April 11 Sophie Brochu is leaving her office at Hydro-Québec! In fact, his office is within walking distance of the Maison de Radio-Canada. It is providential!
WOULD SHE MAKE A GOOD MANAGER?
Ms. Brochu doesn’t know radio, but it’s far from a handicap. With the exception of Alphonse Ouimet and perhaps Pierre Juneau, no CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada was a radio or television specialist for decades.
Would Ms. Brochu be a good CEO for CBC/Radio-Canada? Maybe, but the Ottawa government would still have to be willing to fully review its governance, clarify its mandate, and set out the coherent role that a true public broadcaster should play across the country. The two networks would also have to stop functioning autonomously and be limited to a common direction and orientation. Good manager that she is, Ms. Brochu wouldn’t ask for less.
Finally, and this is far from certain, Radio-Canada staff, whether in Toronto or Montreal, would accept that a CEO, no matter how competent, might be wagging his fingers and trying to break old habits to change? Allow me serious doubts!
