"A garbage decision": Trudeau blasts Bell Media after latest round of layoffs
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau scolded Bell Media’s decision yesterday to lay off nearly 5,000 workers, calling it a “garbage decision.”
On Thursday, BCE Inc. President and CEO Mirko Bibic announced in an open letter that 4,800 jobs (9% of Bell’s total workforce) would be cut and that the company would sell 45 of its radio stations.
“Restructuring decisions are incredibly tough for all of us because it affects the people we work with and care about. We know these decisions are hardest on those leaving Bell,” he wrote.
Sources within the CTV newsroom confirmed with Daily Hive that several key CTV National News reporters were affected by the Bell Media layoffs.
CTV noon and weekend news shows in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver were also shut down as part of the shake-up.
Speaking to reporters alongside Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday, Trudeau stated that the layoffs were “a garbage decision by a corporation that should know better.”
Pointing to the gobbling up of journalistic outlets, radio stations, and small community newspapers by corporate entities over the past few years in Canada, and eventual layoffs, Trudeau stated the situation was dire for journalism in the country.
“This is the erosion of not just journalism, but quality local journalism at a time when people need it more than ever. It’s eroding our very democracy.”
PMJT just went off on Bell, saying it was a “garbage decision from a corperation that should know better” to layoff journalists and other workers.
“I’m pretty pissed off about what’s just happened” #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/cGgShqJKhj
— Mackenzie Gray (@Gray_Mackenzie) February 9, 2024
The prime minister added that he was “pretty pissed off about what’s just happened.”
Trudeau is not the only politician in Canada to express their disappointment in Bell Media layoffs– yesterday BC Premier David Eby called the decision “reprehensible” and “appalling.”
Former CTV National News anchor Lisa LaFlamme also weighed in on the layoffs, sharing a post on her X account in solidarity with those who lost their jobs.
With files from Isabelle Docto
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