The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has asked for an exemption from new legislation aimed at encouraging public servants to expose wrongdoing. But leery opposition MPs are demanding to know whether the request is an attempt by the CBC to avoid public scrutiny over how it spends tax dollars. MPs studying the legislation were informed yesterday that the CBC wants the proposed law amended so it no longer applies to the public broadcaster. "There's just this traditional sense of, 'Leave us alone. We'll take your money, but don't give us any lines of accountability,' " said Tory MP Paul Forseth. "That's been the comfortable position that they've had for a long time, so in some respects this is a window of accountability. So now I could understand that management would see this as threatening to their previous all-powerful status." Mr. Forseth said the legislation has the potential to reveal incidents of gross misspending or unfair hiring practices at the CBC. "We know historically the CBC, as a hierarchical bureaucracy, has been just as stultifying or brutal as any other bureaucracy," he said. The broadcaster is opposed to the law because it classifies CBC employees as public servants, a term CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald says compromises the independence of CBC journalists and contradicts statements to the contrary in the Broadcasting Act. Calling CBC journalists public servants "undermines their journalistic credibility," he said. "Part of their job is reporting on government." The CBC also believes the proposed law will restrict public servants from speaking out to the media, said Mr. MacDonald. "We're concerned that the legislation would force people to go first to a government-appointed person because they're essentially prohibited from going to the media except in extreme cases," he said. But the CBC request was quickly dismissed by Privy Council Minister Denis Coderre. "There'll be no exemptions until such time the CBC is no longer a Crown corporation," said spokesman Mark Dunn. "They're a taxpayer-funded institution. They're a Crown corporation, last time I checked, and this bill touches on Crown corporations." The four-page letter from CBC President Robert Rabinovitch was sent to Privy Council Clerk Alex Himelfarb, Treasury Board Secretary Jim Judd and Morris Rosenberg, the deputy minister of Justice, and describes the legislation as a "dangerous precedent." "CBC is one of the major sources of information on public affairs in Canada and, in this capacity, must not only be independent of the Government but have the appearance of independence and embody fundamental democratic values, particularly freedom of expression and independence of any interference by the government of the day," wrote Mr. Rabinovitch. Liberal and opposition MPs on the committee questioned the request, given that no other department or Crown corporation will be exempt from the law. "Either everybody's included or everybody's not. It doesn't make much sense to have an exemption," said Liberal MP Alex Shepherd. NDP MP Pat Martin went further, describing the CBC's request as "reprehensible." "Good employers welcome whistleblower legislation. Only employers with something to hide try and avoid whistleblowing legislation," he said. The CBC is offering to create its own internal disclosure system and denied attempting to avoid public scrutiny. "If the question is 'Do we have anything to hide?' the answer is 'absolutely not,' " said Mr. MacDonald.
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