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Public Notice
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Ottawa, 24 March 1986
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Public Notice CRTC 1986-72
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Committee to Discuss the Communications Needs of the Communities of Labrador City and Wabush, Newfoundland, Relating to an Application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - 851026500
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At a Public Hearing in Wabush, Newfoundland on 18 November 1985, the Commission considered an application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to amend the broadcasting licence for CBNLT Labrador City and its rebroadcaster, CBNLT-1 Churchill Falls, by deleting the condition of licence requiring the programs broadcast by these stations to be received from studios located at Labrador City and by replacing it with a condition of licence stipulating that the programs be received from CBNT St. John's, Newfoundland.
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On 25 March 1985 the Commission was notified by the Corporation that, as a result of budgetary constraints, the CBC had decided to close down CBNLT's local studio facilities in Labrador City. Specifically, the letter noted:
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effective March 31st, as part of our economy measures, we will discontinue the production of 15 minutes per day local programming in Labrador City, CBNLT-TV.
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A news reporter, supported by a technical crew will prepare news stories about Labrador City and Western Labrador for the provincial supper-hour program from CBNT in St. John's.
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Inasmuch as the licence of CBLNT Labrador City stipulates that programs be "received from studios located at Labrador City, Newfoundland", this change in program source which was implemented by the Corporation without prior Commission authorization is, in effect, a breach of condition of licence.
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Upon receipt of the CBC's letter, the Commission initiated public hearing procedures in order to consider this matter. The hearing was scheduled to take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia in November 1985. In view, however, of the large number of interventions received from residents and elected representatives of the affected communities, and in order to ensure their full participation in the public hearing process, the Commission decided to hold the hearing in the community of Wabush.
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Background
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The adjacent communities of Labrador City and Wabush have a combined population of approximately 15,000, making this the third-largest concentration of people in the province of Newfoundland, after St. John's and Corner Brook. Labrador City and Wabush are situated at the extreme western tip of Labrador, 320 kilometers north of Sept-Iles, Quebec.
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St. John's, Newfoundland, the provincial capital is situated 1,200 kilometers to the southeast and Montreal 1,025 kilometers to the southwest. The communities are extremely isolated.
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The communities have no daily news paper and the only local private radio station, CFLW, closed its local studios in 1982 and receives its day time programming from dedicated studios located in Corner Brook.
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A subscription television undertaking provides four independent Canadian television signals and three U.S. television network services from Canadian Satellite Communications Inc. The First Choice Canadian Communications Ltd. pay television service is also available. In addition to the CBC English-language television stations at issue herein, rebroadcasting stations provide the CBC French-language television service from Sept-Iles and CBC English- and French-language radio services from Goose Bay and Sept-Iles.
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The CBC had acquired the assets of CJCL-TV Labrador City from the Iron Ore Company of Canada in 1973 (Decision CRTC 73-208 dated 6 April 1973). Two years later the CBC applied to establish local studios at Labrador City. Authority was granted in Decision CRTC 75-259 dated 4 July 1975.
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For ten years, the CBC had been producing 15 minutes per day Monday to Friday of local public affairs and information programming for insertion in the provincial weekday supper hour news program "Here and Now", produced in St. John's.
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CBC Presentation
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At the hearing CBC explained that, within the context of significant cost-cutting measures that it had implemented in response to the $85 million budget cut, five positions were eliminated from the television operation in Labrador City, resulting in a saving of some $355,000.
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The CBC described its programming responsibilities in the following terms:
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After the ... regional [production] centres ... the development of CBC-staffed operations in smaller centres is not logical ... We have to ... make sure that we at least have input into the CBC in a number of places and ... that the network reflects the whole country.
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If we are going to survive, we have to be cherished by a lot of Canadians. Most Canadians live in urban centres. We have to have a healthy audience in these centres ...
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We will not survive if we ... are the broadcaster of small communities. We are supposed to be the national system with a large audience across the country ...
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John Power, CBC regional director for Newfoundland/Labrador, acknowledged the valid concerns of the residents of these isolated towns and said that the CBC would retain a local news crew to feed local items to the regional news program originating from CBNT St. John's.
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In order to compensate for the loss of local news and community messages from the television service, the CBC announced at the hearing that it was re-designing the format of its morning radio programming to introduce a radio link between Western Labrador and Goose Bay. The 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. radio program originating from CFGB-FM Goose Bay would now be co-hosted, with one host in Labrador City and another in Goose Bay.
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The Interventions
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Submissions opposing the CBC application were heard on behalf of the Towns of Labrador City and Wabush; Gladys March, on behalf of the Honourable William Rompkey, M.P.; Peter Fenwick, M.H.A.; the United Steelworkers of America, the union representing the workers at the iron ore mines which are the economic base of the two communities; Bishop Peter A. Sutton; the Reverend D.B. Nicolle; the Coalition for Equality, local umbrella organization that concerns itself with community problems; and The Carol Players, an internationally-acclaimed local amateur theatre group.
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The interveners opposed the CBC's application for a number of reasons:
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- the local CBC service was a vital element in lessening the area's feeling of isolation and played a major role in helping to improve the quality of life;
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- the ability of local residents to communicate among themselves has been lost;
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- discussion of the cessation of service is taking place eight months after the fact - there was no prior consultation;
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- the reduction in service is unfair in terms of the economic contribution made by these communities through tax revenues. As noted by Mr. Fenwick, in 1983 the total taxable income in Labrador West was $117 million and $23 million was paid in federal and provincial income tax.
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- the amount of local television production has been reduced from 75 minutes per week to just two or three minutes (as part of the "Here and Now" program);
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- there is no longer the capacity to broadcast public announcements during station breaks;
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- the CBC local production had been the communities' "eyes and ears" and the only means of exposing local talent and issues;
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- the co-hosted morning radio program is not an acceptable alternative.
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Bishop Peter Sutton, underlined the fact that:
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Labrador West is far removed from the centres of political decisions, and its comparatively small population, precisely because it is small, enjoys little or no political clout ...
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The withdrawal of [this] service is ... unwarranted, and ... unjust ... delayed television film, arbitrarily edited or eliminated in St. John's, is not only inadequate but loses any sense of immediacy or urgency.
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The submission filed by the Honourable William Rompkey, M.P. argued that:
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The north, wherever it may be, is a special part of Canada. Some would even say a quintes sensial part. And always there have been fears that the south will not understand, will not appreciate, would simply take for granted, would simply exploit, would simply dominate the north. These fears have intensified in the age of television. It is important that the north "talk back".
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Mayor Snow of Labrador City emphasized the contribution area residents make to the economy and suggested that the tax-supported national broadcasting service should be supportive of local communications needs, particularly in isolated areas.
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Wabush Mayor Bill Kelly did not agree that the CBC's priority should be national production:
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The national priority is number one. And ... if it comes to a decision between 10 hours of production of drama in Toronto versus 10 minutes of local media here, their priority is with the 10 hours in Toronto. And all the way down the line, the priorities seem ... national, provincial, regional and local. We are on the bottom of the heap ...
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We think that there should be more speaking up all over the country ... that these services [are] beneficial and needed and appreciated.
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The concern was also expressed that if the CBC is forced to sustain further budget cuts, other local services will be eliminated, with Labrador City being merely the first.
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The CBC's Reply
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In replying to the points raised by the interveners, Doug Ward, CBC Vice President of Regional Broadcasting, began his presentation with the words:
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I found myself agreeing more and more with what I have been hearing this afternoon. [These are] the same kinds of arguments I make week in and week out in the Corporation where the network versus regional versus local programming is very much at the fore. ... Most of the things I have heard this afternoon about the importance of broadcasting, I subscribe to.
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John Power also admitted that "Labrador City was proportionately affected [by the budget cuts] to a higher degree than any other CBC operation in the province".
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In response to the concerns by the interveners, Mr. Ward acknowledged that the measures taken by the CBC had not been "the most appropriate" for these remote isolated communities. Accordingly, he made a commitment on behalf of the CBC to work with representatives of Labrador City/Wabush to develop a communications strategy for the area. As a first step, having taken into consideration the particular circumstances of the area affected by the loss of local television production, the CBC promised to guarantee emergency access to the local radio and television transmitters, and suggested the possibility of community access programming similar to that provided in the case of certain native communities. The CBC also promised to consider restoring the community bill board capability through the use of a character generator.
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As a follow-up to the commitments made at the November 1985 Public Hearing, Charles Veitch, the CBC Labrador Location Manager, wrote to the Mayors of Wabush and Labrador City on 12 December 1985, with a copy to the Commission, to explain the immediate changes the CBC was prepared to undertake:
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1. In addition to the present co-hosting of Labrador Morning between Labrador West and Goose Bay, [the CBC is] prepared to install a switching system that will allow the Announcer-Operator to access the local radio transmitter. Normally all announcements are included in the body of the program or in Radio Noon.
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This new system will allow for emergency announcements at any other time of the day to the local area only.
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2. [The CBC is] prepared to reintroduce the community announcements on TV. They will appear in the station break preceding Here and Now. This break will be two minutes in length and will be prepared in the morning, before 12 noon, and videotaped for play back that evening.
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3. This service is set to begin on Monday, January 6, 1986. Should there be any need to make emergency announcements, i.e. water to be turned off, power shutdown, emergency workers called back, etc., you are to contact Mr. John Fleet. While his shift is completed by 12 noon, he will respond to an emergency call from the Mayor or Town Manager only, at any time of the day.
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4. [The CBC will] install a code-a-phone with a separate number to record all public service an nouncements. The new number will be advertised extensively.
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A progress report was filed by the CBC with the Commission on 27 January 1986 outlining the steps the Corporation has taken to meet these commitments.
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Further Consultation
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The Commission has given careful consideration to the interventions submitted with respect to this application. While recognizing the Corporation's serious budgetary constraints, the Commission considers that before contemplating the elimination of local television service in isolated communities, it is incumbent upon the CBC to assess very carefully all the implications of such a decision in consultation with the communities involved. The Commission is very concerned that after ten years of access to local live television production, the communities of Labrador City and Wabush have now been deprived of their only means of local origination.
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While technological developments now permit the most remote localities to have access to a variety of distant broadcast services, the capacity of such a community to reflect itself has become an even more important communication need. To deprive a community of its only means of self-expression is a severe hardship.
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In light of all of the foregoing, the Commission considers that, in addition to the initiatives already implemented by the CBC since the November 1985 hearing, a communications strategy must be developed to determine how best to meet the immediate and future communication needs of the residents of Wabush and Labrador City in terms of both radio and television. In considering appropriate alternatives, the Commission will want to assess the minimum amount of local television programming that would be considered adequate to serve community needs and the most appropriate time(s) for its scheduling.
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Accordingly, Commissioner James Robson has been appointed to consult with the CBC and with the Mayors of Labrador City and Wabush in order to arrive at a satisfactory communications strategy for these communities. Commissioner Robson is to report back to the Commission within 60 days of the date of this notice the results of these consultations. Following this, the Commission will render its decision with respect to the above-noted application.
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Fernand Bélisle Secretary General
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