Canadian television and film executive Catherine Tait has been appointed president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, becoming the first woman to head the public broadcaster in its 82-year history, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly announced Tuesday.
CBC/Radio-Canada is Radio Canada International’s parent company.
Tait, 60, will replace outgoing president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, 62, who has been at the helm of the public broadcaster through a turbulent period of budget cuts and digital transformation since being appointed by the government of former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008. Lacroix was reappointed for a second five-year term in 2012.
‘Champion of Canadian content’
A graduate of the University of Toronto, Boston University and the University of Paris, Tait has worked in the film and television business in Canada and the U.S. for more than 30 years, including at Telefilm Canada in the 1980s as manager of policy and planning. Tait also worked as Canada’s cultural attaché in France from 1989 to 1991.
“With the appointment of Ms. Tait as President/CEO, we benefit from her depth of experience as an entrepreneur, business leader and lifelong champion for Canadian content,” Joly said in a statement to reporters. “She is without question the right person for the job. I am excited for the energy, vision and leadership she will bring while she is at the helm of CBC/Radio-Canada.”
Tait will be moving back to Canada from New York, where she was president of Duopoly, an independent film, television and digital content company based in Brooklyn, N.Y., she co-founded in 2002.
In Canada, Tait was president of Salter Street Films from 1997 to 2001. The company produced the hugely popular satirical show for the CBC This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
‘Dream job’
Assuming the leadership of the public broadcaster is a dream job, Tait said.
“CBC/Radio-Canada carries the enormous responsibility to inform, enlighten and entertain Canadian audiences in both official languages, in English and French, from coast to coast to coast,” Tait said. “Irrespective of platform: television, radio or digital CBC/Radio-Canada fosters democratic debate and dialogue across the country.”
The public broadcaster also serves as a flagship to promote Canadian stories and Canada’s unique cultural legacy to the world, Tait said.
She said she wants to create partnerships with “all Canadian stakeholders: private broadcasters, press organizations, networks such as APTN — not to forget provincial broadcasters, representatives of the music industry, as well as our own firms that are digital, and other platforms.”
“We also need to reach deep into our shared culture: for Indigenous peoples to tell their own stories, to tell the stories of many struggles and triumphs of new Canadians, of women, and of the LGBTQ community,”Tait said.
New board of directors
Joly also named the new chair of the CBC board of directors as Michael Goldbloom, a former publisher of the Montreal Gazette and Toronto Star who was principal of Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Que.
Three new board directors were announced as Suzanne Guèvremont, Guillaume Aniorté and Sandra B. Singh.
Tait’s appointment is the latest in a series of moves the federal Liberals have made at the public broadcaster that began in 2016, when it boosted CBC funding by $675 million over five years.
With files from CBC News
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