Loyal CBC Listeners Pan Lacroix Apology

By Stephen Pate – When CBC President Hubert Lacroix appeared before the Senate, he apologized to that special group of Canadians who loyally support the CBC. “I also want to apologize to all those Canadians who support CBC/Radio Canada for this careless error,” Lacroix said about his $30,000 expense double dipping.

Ignoring Sun readers as perhaps negatively biased against the CBC, I headed over to CBC.ca to check their readers’ reaction. Except for a few supportive comments, loyal CBC viewers are calling for Lacroix’s head, his resignation and possibly criminal charges for Lacroix.

According to a 2011 Abacus poll, only 27% of Canadians actively support the CBC and want their public funding increased, which was the main reason for Lacroix’s Senate appearance.

Speaking to the Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications on February 26th, Lacroix issued a statement that his double claimed expense per-diems was a mistake. Lacroix said he was “committed to the highest standard of integrity and transparency.” I “immediately asked for a full accounting and I voluntarily paid back every cent”.

“CBC, there is a huge difference between disclosure and transparency. The CBC disclosed this now, but are they transparent about it: NO,” said MNovak who ranks 379th on CBC.ca.

“Have you ever heard such lame excuses?  This guy should be canned.” said Carl.

“If we hadn’t already heard this excuse so many times from Senators, Ministers, The Conservative Party Fund…and others  We might buy the “I didn’t know the rules” routine…Resign Mr. Lacroix.” wrote Katetbay, the 80th ranked CBC commenter.

Cynicism was a constant theme. “Integrity, transparency ‘extremely important”   Pssst, only if you get caught.  (nudge nudge, wink) wrote Aardvark.

Attentive stuck to the factual discrepancies.  “The second last line … in the article says, “It doesn’t say why that [Mr. Rabinovitch began receiving reimbursement for hotels, meals and incidentals] changed a few months after Schedule K was introduced.  However, Schedule K was apparently introduced in 1992.  So, what actually changed at CBC between January 2006 (when Harper became PM) and October 2006 (when the rules began to be broken at CBC, as shown by the start of reimbursements to Mr. Rabinovich)  that may have caused/resulted in the rules being ignored/broken at CBC?”

Piedpiper saw a left/right wing angle  “And the left-wingers all agree that the matter is settled, that erases the crime … if you are a leftie.  Headline news crying for a lynch mob if it Hubert was a Conservative.  Luckily he is a Liberal, eh?”

Known CBC critics

CBC has it’s critics. Linda is one of the admitted few and writes “This is but the latest in a series of financial scandals plaguing the CBC. There is NO accountability with taxpayer money.  Yes, this is only $30k BUT do you know how many millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted at CBC?  Check out www.cbcExposed.com.”

Supportive CBC audience

President Lacroix was not without his supporters. “The Man Was Dignified, Passionate & Forthright In His Very Profrssional Presentation Of The Current State Of Affairs At The CBC,” wrote ForrestCreature, another regular commenter.

“Impressive How Mr. Lacroix Handled The Muck-Raking Whinners .. & .. The Ignorant Ridicule Guffawed By Some Senators Over Their Mis-Pronunciation Of The Name Of The Previous Head Of The CTRC .. It Was Nice To See Intelligent Life In Room Littered With Over-Blown Dunder-Heads..”

CBC Censorship

Apparently CBC was heavily moderating comments on the Lacroix stories. Several CBC’ers complained about censorship.

“This lack of comments is letting politicians off the hook , they don’t have to be accountable for what they say or their actions. With comments there is instant response to their action…Please CBC return the comments to all stories,” said  noStrategicvtn.

All comments from the two articles CBC published about the $30,000 expense double-dip CBC president Hubert Lacroix repays $30K in expenses and Hubert Lacroix apologizes for $30K expenses error.

Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate or on Facebook at NJN Network and OyeTimes.

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network