Information & Ethics Committee on Oct. 10th, 2024

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Are those employees gone from CTV? Are they gone from Bell completely?

[Richard Gray]

Those two individuals are no longer members of either CTV News or BCE.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Mr. Fisher.

Thank you, Mr. Gray.

The floor is yours for two minutes, Mr. Villemure.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Gray, before I ask my first question, please allow me to make an editorial comment about diverse political opinions.

I watch CTV regularly, and I am always a bit surprised, and even offended, when I see the Bloc Québécois being described as separatist. The word conveys a meaning. It is a term that was reviled by Jean Chrétien at the time. Today, it carries negative overtones. Even just using the word puts our political position in a bad light in English Canada.

So when you talk about there being diverse opinions, I am a bit skeptical. Could you comment, please?

[Richard Gray]

As I've said repeatedly, we endeavour to cover public policy issues in a balanced way so Canadians can make informed decisions about them. We strive and endeavour to include all points of view.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

There is just something I would like to tell you, Mr. Gray.

You do cover all opinions; that is not what concerns me. However, every time the word “separatist” is used, it makes a value judgment. It is not a judgment on the facts; it is a value judgment. Personally, I would tell you to find a synonym or some other term, because I think we are getting off topic here.

I am going to come back to the problem we are considering today. I heard your explanation. You talk about how the media have lost credibility, about how trust is being eroded and business is shrinking. I come here with an open mind, but when I hear things like what we have heard today, I find it a bit hard to have any more trust after hearing the testimony than I had before.

What could you do to reassure me? What solutions could you propose to ease people's minds and restore their trust in CTV?

[Richard Gray]

I fully anticipate that, as a result of what transpired in this particular case—although it was an isolated incident, from my perspective—we are going to have to work to rebuild a degree of trust among Canadians and our audience.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Gray.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Mr. Villemure.

Mr. Green, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead, sir.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Gray, with the experience you have, and with the resources you have within your reach, what learnings would you provide other news stations in the mainstream environment here in Canada?

We have an election coming up. Obviously, this is going to be something closely watched. What have you learned from this situation, and what would your advice be to competitors in the market in terms of making sure this doesn't happen again?

[Richard Gray]

First and foremost, it's absolutely critical that we are all reminding our team members about our policies and expected editorial standards. That is probably the biggest and most important learning for us. You can't take it for granted, because this is something that has probably been the prevailing approach and attitude in newsrooms for a number of years. That would be number one.

Number two is constant reinforcement of what I've said repeatedly. Our job is to present all sides of public policy issues. It is to function in a balanced way. Accuracy and fairness are of critical importance. That's our job. That's our role.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Gray, I do have to reclaim my time. I have about a minute left.

You've stated the ways in which CTV is dealing with this. I talk about how there's an ecosystem within the news media sector. In the event that you were to rebroadcast reports or take information from other news channels, are there any tools or methods that CTV News can use to ensure that these reports do not contain misinformation or disinformation?

[Richard Gray]

With respect to Canadian stories in broadcast, we run 100% of our own material. We do not source Canadian story content for broadcast from any other source in this country. With respect to international news material, we only align ourselves with organizations that have similar editorial standards to ours.

[Matthew Green, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

That's helpful.

Thank you very much for your appearance here today.

[The Chair, Conservative, John Brassard]

Thank you, Mr. Green.

I understand that Mr. Cooper and Mr. Caputo are going to split their time at two and a half minutes each. Then we're going follow that with Mr. Housefather.

We're going to start with Mr. Cooper.

Go ahead.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Gray, you have repeatedly stated here today that you believe that there was no intent to mislead. Let's look at what happened. CTV spliced together three short sound bites. Sound bites were spliced together, not even in the order that they were stated, to create an entirely made-up sentence. It was literally fake news that entirely changed the meaning of what Pierre Poilievre said. On exactly what basis do you conclude that there was no intent to mislead?

[Richard Gray]

Two now-former staff members of CTV News acted in a way that was in breach of our editorial standards.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

You made a conclusive statement that there was no intent to mislead, so I'm asking you this: On what basis do you draw that conclusion?

[Richard Gray]

It's based on 33 years of experience and this being the first and only time that anything like this has ever happened.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Mr. Gray, no one believes you. You said, for example, that one of the two employees who altered the video said that he or she believed that it would be understood to be about the carbon tax election. However, nowhere in the report is there any mention of a carbon tax election, so on what basis could anyone reasonably believe that this statement was made in that context when there was no context? Its quite the opposite: disinformation.

[Richard Gray]

I disagree.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

You disagree. It's a fact that there was no mention of a carbon tax election. You have no credibility. In the face of the fact that CTV peddled a fraudulent news story, you haven't apologized. You haven't explained the basis upon which you have asserted that there was no intent to mislead. To simply say that you disagree isn't good enough. No one believes you.

[Richard Gray]

We have, in fact, apologized twice.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

You haven't apologized at all. You said that there was no intent to mislead. You said that there was no intent to mislead, but you can't even articulate the basis of why.

[Richard Gray]

There was no intent to mislead. We have apologized twice.