Government control of Crown corporations directly affects citizens, institutions

VICTORIA, B.C.— June 11 was Black Tuesday and most Canadians didn’t even know. The media and opposition focus on scandals. Senate expenses and dishonour obliterate even the mention of the government’s omnibus budget implementation bill. Meanwhile, disastrous legislation proceeds without scrutiny.

But this lack of notice is the silver lining in the government’s present cloud, enabling them to take control more easily of our important independent institutions.

CBC Vs. Harper Government: Hubert Lacroix Warns Of Legal Showdown With Tories

OTTAWA - The CBC is warning the federal government that its efforts to control salary negotiations at the Crown agency could be at odds with the Broadcasting Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, leading to litigation.

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. chief executive Hubert Lacroix sent a letter to the Commons finance committee today, pleading for an amendment to the budget implementation bill to ensure the broadcaster's independence.

Tory backbencher says feds want to control costs, not interfere with CBC’s journalistic independence, but opposition parties don't buy it

PARLIAMENT HILL—The federal Cabinet wants to take control over collective bargaining at the CBC to rein in the cost of wages and pension plans for unionized employees, not out of a desire to interfere politically with the Crown corporation’s independence as Canada’s national public broadcaster, says government backbencher Ryan Leef.

But Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) suggested Wednesday freedom of the press in Canada is at stake as the government rams legislation through Parliament giving Cabinet unprecedented control over collective bargaining for all 49 federal Crown corporations, while the spokesman for a lobby group opposed to the plan warned that its supporters may target Conservative MPs in the 2015 federal general election if the Conservatives go ahead with the bill, C-60.

Critics fear Tories’ changes to collective bargaining at Crown corporations will threaten CBC independence

OTTAWA—From pushing petitions to stoking fears of political motivations, those worried that government involvement in labour negotiations at Crown corporations will threaten the independence of the CBC are stepping up efforts to persuade the Conservatives to reconsider.

“It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that an editorial decision to go easy on the government could be made in the heat of a contract negotiation, if the prime minister is, in effect, seated on the other side of the bargaining table,” Ian Morrison, with the advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

Harper government’s new controls on Crown corporations a cause for concern

Near the end of the latest federal budget, tucked away like so many controversial measures before it, in a distant corner of an omnibus bill, is a deceptively innocuous, deeply worrying piece of legislation that will give the government unprecedented controls over Crown corporations.

The budget implementation bill tabled last week contains provisions that will allow the government to intervene in the collective bargaining and executive salary negotiations of more than 40 Crown corporations, including VIA Rail, Canada Post and, most problematically, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Conservatives’ move to control negotiations at Crown corporations part of broader agenda for public service contracts

The Conservative government’s move to control the mandate of contract negotiations between Crown corporations and its employees is part of its sweeping plan to make the pay and benefits of all federal workers more affordable and in line with the private sector.

In the last budget the government signalled a overhaul in way it manages its $43 billion a year payroll, and this week unveiled legislation that would give it some of the tools to help it get there. Its plans includes giving cabinet the power to oversee collective bargaining and the right to appoint a Treasury Board representative at all rounds of negotiations.