Evidence of meeting #115 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was company.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
How does Bell anticipate using its portion of the Google media fund?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
We haven't negotiated that. It will be a very small number in the end for Bell, so we'll continue driving forward. We're making sure that as much investment as possible is in the production of news, driving efficiencies in our infrastructure so that we can invest in creating digital platforms so that there is news at all times of the day for our viewers.
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
Couldn't these funds be used to offset the revenue losses cited in B.C.'s restructuring announcement of February 2024 and thus reduce the impacts on jobs and programming?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
We are driving as many efficiencies as we possibly can in terms of common infrastructure, common equipment or having journalists file stories on all our CTV platforms rather than being dedicated to only one show. That's how we're going to ensure that we deliver news at every point in time as it breaks, as it happens, on whatever platform the consumer wants. If they want digital, it's there. If they want online, it's there. If they want to go on YouTube, we'll make sure that CP24 is there. If they want to sit down in front of the TV and watch Sandie Rinaldo at 5:30—she's an amazing talent—we have news there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you, Mr. Bibic. We've run out of time.
I'm going to a third round. Again we have five minutes with the Conservatives.
Go ahead, Jamil Jivani.
Conservative
Jamil Jivani Conservative Durham, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Bibic, let's talk, shall we?
In recent years, several of Bell Media's female employees have left your company amid accusations of discrimination. Patricia Jaggernauth left CP24, claiming she had been tokenized as a black woman. Danielle Graham left CTV Etalk, claiming that it was in part due to sexism. Of course, you've also seen multiple media reports suggesting that Lisa Laflamme was pushed out of CTV News due to ageism. Now, of course, Bell celebrates it's supposed commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
It is all over your website, Mr. Bibic, but I am curious to know if you can clarify to Canadians whether they should be concerned about a pattern of deplorable employment practices at Bell Media.
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
We thank you for the question.
The issue that is being surfaced is very important, and we do take it very seriously. I am very proud of the very talented group of diverse journalists that we have across the country. The job reductions were kind of difficult and unfortunate. A smaller number of the broader number affected Bell Media directly, but we have the same percentage of diverse journalists now as before, and we have a lot of phenomenal accomplishments and success stories, like Sandie Rinaldo, who celebrated 50 years on air.
TSN would be a great example. We have incredibly talented women broadcasters. We were the first to have an all-women NBA broadcast, for example. If you take the broader Bell, and if you look at the CEO and the direct reports—that's me and the people who directly report to me—before I became CEO, 15% were women. Now it's 30%. At one level below that, the senior vice-president layer of BCE, in 2019, 20% were women. Now it's double that.
We take it seriously. There is more work to do, of course. We have to do more.
Conservative
Jamil Jivani Conservative Durham, ON
Mr. Bibic, if I could just suggest.... It sounds to me like you may be proving some of the allegations correct in your response, given that you are engaging in tokenism in your answer. None of this hiring of people based on quotas or percentages, as you seem to be indicating, would necessarily make Bell immune to the allegations made of tokenism, racism, sexism and ageism.
Do you have a response to those concerns, and whether Canadians should be worried that one of the largest media companies in the country has a pattern of deplorable employment practices?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
No. I would think it is an issue that we take very seriously. If there are incidents, we will investigate them and make sure they are addressed, but, more broadly, we seek to do better each and every year. We want to have as diverse a workforce as possible at all levels of the company—men, women, and, of course, talent and employees who are Black, indigenous and people of colour. We want those communities as well.
It's a very important issue. Thank you for raising it.
Conservative
Jamil Jivani Conservative Durham, ON
When you laid off 5,000 workers—and if you could refrain from evading this time, I'd appreciate it—what percentage of them were Black or indigenous?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
I don't have the specific numbers at my fingertips, but we could file that with the clerk.
Conservative
Jamil Jivani Conservative Durham, ON
Yes, it would be great if you could file that because I'd be curious to know what role diversity, equity and inclusion policies play when deciding to fire 5,000 Canadian workers. For example, do you have separate Zoom calls for the Black workers and the white workers? How do you approach that?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Are you referring to, again, the unionized, non-management employees, or the management groups? The management groups would have had individual—
Conservative
Jamil Jivani Conservative Durham, ON
You've given us a word salad, so far, about how important DEI is to your company, yet it doesn't seem that you thought about DEI when firing 5,000 Canadian workers. I'd like some clarity on the role that DEI plays when firing 5,000 people.
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Madam Chair, I'm not sure why the honourable member phrases the question in that manner.
I did indicate that, as it relates to Bell Media, we have the same percentage of diverse journalists now as we did prior to the restructuring. As it relates to how we communicate with employees, there were individual meetings. There was a separate process with respect to the unionized employees that we discussed in advance with Unifor, the union in question, which fully endorsed the process that we adopted, which I would be happy to go into if we have the time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
No, you don't actually. There is only one second left, so I'm going to move to the next speaker, which is Mr. Noormohamed for the Liberals.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Mr. Bibic, I want to clear up something that a number of my colleagues have tried to get answers for. I just want to be crystal clear. This should respond to the question that Mrs. Thomas, Ms. Dhillon and others have asked.
Does it sound familiar to you that the Government of Canada received notice of the layoffs at or around the same time the public did?
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
Yes, the notice was given on February 8.
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
They proceeded thereafter, but it's not—
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
There were 4,800, so it was staged over several weeks.
President and Chief Executive Officer, BCE Inc.
That, I don't have the exact data for—
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
They began that day.
Just so you know, they began that day. You did point out that you gave 16 weeks' working notice. It's important to clarify for every single person in this room and watching this that 16 weeks' working notice does not mean that you gave the Government of Canada 16 weeks' notice. You gave the Government of Canada zero days' notice and you gave your workers zero days' notice, but you paid them for 16 weeks thereafter from the day that they were terminated.
Does that sound correct?