Broadcasting - Secretary General Letter addressed to Annick R. Forest (Canadian Media Guild)
Ottawa, 30 November 2023
Reference: 2023-138
BY E-MAIL
Annick R. Forest
President, Canadian Media Guild
311 Adelaide Street East, Suite 101
Toronto, Ontario M5A 1N2
annick@cmg.ca
Subject: Procedural request to appear at the public hearing announced in Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2023-138
Annick R. Forest,
The Commission received the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) letter dated 17 November 2023, requesting permission to appear at the public hearing announced in NoC 2023-138, which has been ongoing since 20 November 2023. With that request, the CMG also filed a written intervention.
The procedure set out in NoC 2023-138 invited the public to make written interventions by 11 July 2023. Interveners wanting to appear at the public hearing were asked to indicate their intentions in their interventions and explain why an appearance is necessary.
The CMG did not file an intervention by the prescribed deadline and therefore did not indicate their intention to appear at the public hearing within the required timelines. In the procedural request letter, the CMG explained that it missed the intervention deadline due to, among other things, an important staff turnover in the last year and a half including employees tasked with the filings with the Commission. The CMG also noted the ongoing negotiation of a new collective agreement for some of its members as well as a prolonged 11-week strike for certain other members, both of which impeded the CMG’s ability to file the present request in a timely manner.
The Commission recognizes the exceptional circumstances that led the CMG to submit its intervention and procedural request late. The Commission considers it appropriate to accept the CMG’s written intervention. However, given the lateness of the request, the Commission denies the CMG’s request to appear at the public hearing. The written intervention will be added to the public record of NoC 2023-138.
As announced in the opening remarks of the public hearing on 20 November 2023, there will be a final submission period providing an opportunity for parties to file brief final written comments. Other parties will have an opportunity to reply to the CMG’s intervention at that time.
Yours sincerely,
Marc Morin
Secretary General
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