ARCHIVED - Broadcasting Commission Letter addressed to Jean Ernest Pierre (CPAM Radio Union.com inc.)

Ottawa, 19 February 2015

Dear Mr. Pierre:

In the context of our analysis of the renewal application of CJWI Montréal, and in light of the responses that you provided to Commission staff’s questions on 18 December 2014 and 4 January 2015, we have assessed your station’s compliance with the regulatory requirements and its conditions of licence. Accordingly, as stated in our letters of 11 and 24 December 2014, it appears that you may be in non-compliance with the following:

• Section 15(2) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations)^{Footnote 1} concerning your annual contributions to Canadian content development (CCD) for the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 broadcast years, resulting in a total shortfall of $2,500.
  • For further details, refer to the letter sent by email by the Commission on 11 December 2014.
• Section 9(2) of the Regulations concerning the late filing of annual returns for the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 broadcast years.  More specifically, returns were filed on 2 January 2014 for the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 broadcast years and on 29 April 2014 for the 2012-2013 broadcast year.

We note that your letter of 18 December 2014 stated that you had made your CCD contributions by contributing to Haitian musical groups. We also note that you provided proofs of payment of annual contributions in your letter of 4 January 2015. This shows that you have taken no action to rectify your approach. However, you also state that you are ready to pay any outstanding shortfalls if required by the Commission.

The proofs of payment that we received are not considered adequate proof of payment. As indicated in Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2011-795, Filing annual returns for radio programming undertakings, 20 December 2011, supporting documentation for CCD contributions must include copies of cancelled cheques or receipts from the recipient of the contributions, indicating the amount received.

Regarding the filing of late annual returns, we note that you indicated that a company had formerly been responsible for your returns, but that the new accountant was unaware of the regulations with which you are required to comply. As a result, you asked your assistant for help with the filing of future annual returns.

In Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2014-608 (Bulletin 2014-608), Update on the Commission’s approach to non-compliance by radio stations,21 November 2014, the Commission provided an update on its approach for dealing with radio stations’ non-compliance with the requirements of the Broadcasting Act, the Radio Regulations, 1986 and their conditions of licence in the context of an application for licence renewal or amendment. As set out in Bulletin 2014-608, each instance of non-compliance will be evaluated in its context and in light of factors such as the quantity, recurrence and seriousness of the non-compliance. The Commission will also consider the circumstances, the arguments provided by the licensee, and the actions taken to rectify the situation.

As you know, this is second consecutive licence term in which CJWI has been found in non-compliance, as noted in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-335. In order to fully understand the circumstances related to the instances of apparent non-compliance identified in the current licence term (as described above), Commission staff invites you to participate in a conference call to discuss the details of each instance of apparent non-compliance and the actions taken to ensure that you operate in compliance with your conditions of licence and other regulatory requirements in the future.  

You will be contacted for the conference call on 20 February 2015 at 2:30 p.m.

Commission staff members participating in this conference call will be Joe Aguiar and Émilie Godbout (radio sector managers) and myself, Diane Massie (Radio Analyst assigned to this file).

In preparation for this meeting, we ask that you review the following documents, which can be found on our website:

• Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2009-251 – Clarifications regarding Canadian content development contributions made by commercial radio stations.
• Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2011-795– Filing annual returns for radio programming undertakings.
• Broadcasting Information Bulletin CRTC 2014-608 – Update on the Commission’s approach to non-compliance by radio stations.

Please note that this letter will be included as part of your application and should therefore be made available for examination.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by telephone at 819-997-4924 or by e-mail at diane.massie@crtc.gc.ca.

Sincerely,

Diane Massie
Radio Analyst

Date modified:

2015-02-19