2024-02-14 02:31:27
Federal elected officials intend to summon senior executives from Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) to Ottawa to explain the 4,800 job cuts announced last week.
• Read also: Cuts at Bell: “It’s a shitty decision,” fumes Trudeau
• Read also: Bell cuts 4,800 jobs and cuts its media in Quebec
A motion adopted by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage stipulates that six senior executives of the company, including the president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, Mirko Bibic, must appear before the committee to explain themselves on February 29 during a two-hour meeting.
The proposal came from Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed, who deplored that the job cuts announced by Bell “significantly harm access to local journalism in Canada” and “harm democracy.”
This was supported by the New Democrats and the Bloc, while the Conservatives refrained from supporting or rejecting the proposal.
Furthermore, a proposal from NDP MP Niki Ashton to force the Ministers of Heritage and Industry to also appear at the same meeting was rejected by parliamentarians.
“We want to see Bell. We want answers from Bell. We want to do a study on everything that led to these cuts,” declared Bloc MP Martin Champoux.
BCE caused an earthquake last week in the media universe by announcing that it is cutting 9% of its workforce and selling 45 of its 103 regional radio stations, while considering an increase in its dividend of 3.1% in 2024 .
The announcement had caught the Liberal government off guard, which had castigated it, with the Prime Minister going so far as to denounce a “rotten decision” by Bell.
“I am quite upset by what has just happened,” he said on Friday, the day following a formal exit from his Minister of Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, who had also expressed her disappointment.
These cuts were added to the litany of bad news that has been appearing in the media for over a year.
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