Need to Know: Legacy media has a diversity problem

Welcome to Need to Know, The Hub’s twice-weekly roundup of expert insights into the biggest economic stories, political news, and policy developments Hub readers need to be keeping their eyes on. Travis Dhanraj’s departure from the CBC is emblematic of a much bigger problem By Peter Menzies, political commentator and former vice chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The controversial departure of Travis Dhanraj from the CBC might have, according to his former employers’ spokesperson, “saddened” their top brass. But it was treated with great delight by Conservatives who have long doubted whether the Crown Corporation’s slavish adherence to diversity in terms of colour, gender, sexuality, and ethic origin extended to the realms of intellectual and ideological debate. The accusations from Dhanraj—that it most certainly does not—will confirm their bias, but they should be careful because there are always at least two sides to every story. It’s worth remembering that if we ever hear the CBC’s rendition of events in detail, it will likely be in a statement of defence, and Dhanraj is, after all, hardly the first person of colour to work for the CBC. What it does do is point to a bigger problem for people running Canada’s largest broadcasters. Dhanraj’s complaints appear not dissimilar to those of Jamil Jivani, now the Conservative member of Parliament for Bowmanville—Oshawa North, following his departure from Bell in 2022, where he had been employed as host of the Jamil Jivani Show Bell also just settled a complaint filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission by longtime CP24 host Patricia Jaggernauth, who had alleged systemic racism. This raises the question: can big media handle or even understand diversity, particularly of thought? Much more to come on this. An Alberta-Ontario juggernaut By Heather Exner-Pirot, director of energy, natural resources and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute The Calgary Stampede always attracts a large contingent of politicians and business leaders, eager to demonstrate their folksy bona fides by flipping pancakes and walking around in cowboy boots. These are fun traditions that push feelings of solidarity, civic pride, and community spirit into a country hungry for all of these things. But even by the Stampede’s high standards, this year’s event seemed consequential: a display of soft power built on Alberta’s oil wealth in a time when the rest of Canada is unusually keen to leverage it. It attracted Prime Minister Mark Carney, federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson, various ambassadors, and Canadian and American legislators. And it brought a special guest: Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ford, leaders of Canada’s political and economic centres, held a press conference where they couldn’t have seemed more aligned. Aligned to do what? Build infrastructure, diversify exports away from the United States, and produce more oil and gas and critical minerals, to be sure, but also to pressure the federal government to shed a host of investment and productivity-killing laws and regulations. Alberta and Ontario have in common a desire to rid themselves of the jurisdictionally infringing Impact Assessment Act and Clean Electricity Regulations, the former of which Alberta is once again challenging as unconstitutional, joined by Ontario and Saskatchewan. But they also have each other’s backs on the emissions cap, which threatens Alberta’s oil and gas sector, and the electric vehicle mandate, which threatens Ontario’s auto manufacturing industry. Their joint effort helps make this look more “Team Canada” than “regressive complainer.” The headlines focused on an agreement to study a new East-West pipeline between Alberta and Ontario. This is not the favoured pipeline of the oil sector: that would be an export pipeline to Pacific tidewater that could propel growth of a million new barrels a day in production. At this point, an East-West pipeline remains a politically, rather than economically, driven venture. But there is a special place in Albertans’ hearts for Canadian premiers who espouse support for new oil pipelines, and Ford joins those ranks with Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. He earned the white cowboy hat he was anointed with this week. Whether the Alberta-Ontario alliance turns into something more than a memorandum of understanding and federal finger-pointing remains to be seen. In the official press release was a telling, even embarrassing, data point: “The total value of annual interprovincial trade between Ontario and Alberta for 2021 was $62.4 billion—the most recent year for which figures are available.” We have not paid much attention to East-West alliances for many years, investing far more political and economic capital towards our southern counterparts. All those who seek a stronger Team Canada should be encouraged that some cowboy boot-wearing steps were made this week towards putting Canada first. The other Calgary Stampede  By Elie Cantin-Nantel, The Hub’s Ottawa correspondent Each year, more than one million people flock to the Calgary Stampede. I was one of those million this year, attending for the second time in my life. Most people come for the fun: they watch a rodeo, catch concerts at the Cowboys Music Festival, and dance away at Nashville North. It’s cowboy hats, boots, and lots of beer! But the Calgary Stampede is not just a large country fair featuring over 7,500 animals. It’s also one of Canada’s biggest corporate networking venues. Executives, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and lobbyists gather throughout the 10-day Stampede for receptions on rooftop patios and in luxury hotel ballrooms, to rub shoulders and talk politics and business, except with a “yahoo” attitude. These are not suit-and-tie events. Rather, you have the white collar class dressed as cowboys. Politicians, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, hop from reception to reception while also donning their cowboy hats. I attended my first Stampede in 2023, when a friend of mine who works for a Fortune 500 company invited me along, as his company was providing him with a hotel room (which are exorbitantly expensive during the Stampede). At the time, I envisioned that this would be a corporate retreat for him, and for me, an opportunity to see a rodeo and catch up with friends living in Calgary. What I did not expect was to be invited to what felt like every corporate reception on the planet, and see every corporate lobbyist I know from Ottawa there. Yet I did. I have to say, there’s something amusing about taking a four-hour flight from Ottawa to Calgary only to spend most of your time socializing with the same Ottawa crowd. Yet, coming to the Stampede is still so much fun, and so worth it.