Radio Canada International benefits from Cabinet shuffle (02/04/96)

Radio Canada International benefits from Cabinet shuffle

by Andrij Wynnyckyj

TORONTO - One of the beneficiaries of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien's recent Cabinet shuffle is Radio Canada International, the embattled Montreal-based broadcaster. Upon assuming her position as Heritage Minister on January 25, Sheila Copps announced that a deal had been worked out with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs whereby the service would be guaranteed funding.

Ms. Copps told a scrum of reporters in Ottawa, "Our first priority is to restore funding to Radio Canada International." This decision averted the shutdown of RCI scheduled for March 31 that would have made Canada the only industrialized country in the world without an international radio service.

The new minister was quoted in the January 26 issue of the Globe and Mail as saying that incoming Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy "has some money in his department that he will free up."

However, many details remain unclear. Neither the Heritage Ministry (responsible for communications policy and RCl's parent company, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.), nor Foreign Affairs have issued any communiques on the subject, and nobody has mentioned any specific figures.

A media relations official at the Heritage Ministry confirmed that RCI is one of Ms. Copps' priorities and that a more concrete announcement would be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Another source of potential support for RCI was the Juneau report on Canadian broadcasting, due to be released on the afternoon of January 31. Insiders said the document was expected to echo recommendations made by a Senate Transportation and Communications Committee report of 1994, saying that RCI funding should be restored to its 1990 level and that the service represents "money well spent."

The Coalition to Restore Full RCI Funding issued an action item titled "Encouraging News for RCI," which referred to the latest developments as "a turning point," but warned supporters not to get complacent and asked that they "continue to convince [the government] that Canada needs a strong radio voice."

The action item also outlined the coalition's demands. "The coalition is calling for a separate protected budget (somewhat like Canada's contribution to the United Nations). We feel that the service should be restored to at least its 1990-1991 levels, bringing back language sections such as the German and Japanese services, and restoring the targeted English and French programming for different geographic areas such as Europe, Africa, Asia, etc."

Wojtek Gwiazda, a coalition spokesman, was guarded. "It's encouraging, but we haven't seen any numbers on any check," he said. "In 1991, we were 'saved' by the Mulroney government, but our funding was cut in half and we lost a number of important language services."

"On the other hand," the English service announcer/ producer added, "we hope that Ms. Copps and Mr. Axworthy will meet with us, because we have a number of very strong arguments as to how RCI can be saved and maintained."

Mr. Gwiazda added, "Keep those letters and postcards coming."

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