On to Ottawa, and Saturday's lockout notes

All eyes seem to be focusing on what will happen in Ottawa on Monday, when federal Labour Minister Joe Fontana sits down with chief representatives of the CBC and the Canadian Media Guild. (The meeting is actually happing in Gatineau, across the river, at a federal building.)

Monday will mark the beginning of the seventh week of the lockout of the vast majority of CBC's employees (those in Quebec and in Moncton, N.B., are represented by a separate union).

The Guild will be at the tables, but is also attempting to be there in numbers. A news release late Friday says hundreds of CMG members will be converging on Parliament Hill to greet MPs as they return for the fall session. The release says:

"Senior managers at CBC took a big gamble when they locked out 5,500 employees in order to extract deep concessions," says Lise Lareau, president of the Canadian Media Guild, the union representing CBC employees. "The gamble hasn't worked and it's time make CBC management recognize that and negotiate a fair deal."

Press reports abound about Fontana's announcement, which both the CBC and the CMG greeted.

Guy Dixon, writing in the Globe and Mail, had this:

Ottawa had been reluctant to get involved in the lockout, saying that the dispute between the guild and CBC management needs to be resolved at the bargaining table. However, many insiders describe a confluence of events pushing Ottawa to find a solution, from the embarrassment of the public broadcaster not being properly able to air Michaëlle Jean's swearing in as the new governor-general to the effect that the absence of the CBC's regular coverage of federal politics is having on political parties.

Return to sender?

Susan Delacourt, reporting for the Toronto Star, takes a different tack, and follows up on the CMG's request to parliamentarians to consider temporarily cutting off the cash flow to the CBC, on grounds that the CBC does not have a financial incentive for a quick end to the dispute. Her report opens:

The federal government may launch a probe into how the CBC has been using the money it's been getting from Ottawa during its 41-day lockout — and perhaps ask for some of it back, says the Heritage department's parliamentary secretary. Sam Bulte is also intending to push for back-to-work legislation for the CBC when Parliament resumes next week, even though Labour Minister Joe Fontana said yesterday he doesn't favour that option.

"I would advocate for that," Bulte said in an interview after she returned from speaking to locked-out CBC workers on the Toronto picket line.

Fontana, who has summoned the top leaders from CBC management and the union to meet with him on Monday morning, says he wants to hear a concrete plan from both sides about how they intend to end this lockout, since frustration is mounting in many quarters of the Liberal government over how it's dragging on.

"My officials have told me they've hit an impasse," Fontana said in an interview yesterday. "Because the government thinks it's important and the Canadian public believes it's important, I've asked the parties to come to Ottawa to let me know what their plan is to a successful resolution of this matter."

Delacourt's report also references the text of Fontana's letter, as posted on Tod Maffin's CBC Unplugged. You can read it here.

Most papers will likely be carrying the Canadian Press treatment of the story, which is here.

This, now, from Don Newman

The Hill Times reports on how Don Newman - the veteran CBC broadcaster who hosts Politics each day on Newsworld - will be watching the return of Parliament. The article opens with this forecast:

It's Monday, Sept. 26 and the House is back from a three-month summer break. CBC Newsworld Politics host Don Newman should be on the air at 5 p.m. He won't be and he doesn't like it.

So he'll be schlepping it up to Parliament Hill on Monday, just like every other reporter, to watch Question Period, from the gallery inside the House. Later, he'll go to the madness of the scrums in the Commons foyer.

Later, this graf:

"People really care about the CBC who work there. It's more than just a job and I really believe that the three senior people involved on the management, the president, the executive vice-president and the head of human resources, all have a short history with the corporation. I don't think they understand the potential for damage both to the corporation, as an entity, and to the relationship within the corporation, which is key to its success," said Mr. Newman.

For what it's worth, by the way, Newman thinks the lockout will be over by the return of Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts on Oct. 8.

Weekend bargain hunting

Meanwhile, the CBC and CMG bargaining teams will continue talking over the weekend. A brief note on the CBC negotiations page sums up Friday's non-Fontana-related activity:

CBC and CMG continued negotiations today, with discussions on Job Evaluation and Workforce Adjustment. We will meet again on Saturday, and then representatives of CBC and CMG will meet on Monday with the Minister of Labour.

Lockout stress

From Canned Clams in Vancouver, this graphic way of assessing stress. Clams says we're at orange. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Gemini rights lost

CBC has lost the rights to broadcast the Gemini awards this November. More here in this CP report.

Hockey blogs

Robin Rowland has been scouting around the sports end of the blogosphere, and reports back on what he was reading here. An excerpt:

Most of the bloggers and the comments are highly skeptical that management can pull off a decent Hockey Night in Canada broadcast. The consensus, at least among hockey fans (I am not sure if football fans would agree) is that having seen the CFL broadcasts, the bloggers believe CBC management cannot create a hockey broadcast to meet the standards that even the "ordinary" Hockey Night in Canada fan expects. (Nor can most feeds from American networks is a point that is repeated).

Virtually there

Speaking of hockey ... The Globe & Mail's review section has a piece today on how a videogame may fill in the gap for Hockey Night in Canada fans, should the lockout continue:

"I've got the record -- locked out twice in one year," says Harry Neale, CBC's witty hockey commentator.

After a season lost to labour strife, the National Hockey League and its players are back on the ice this fall. What may not return, at least not in the traditional format, is the Saturday evening ritual known as Hockey Night in Canada. The CBC lockout means that Neale and his co-host, play-by-play legend Bob Cole, may be on the outside looking in as the reformatted NHL kicks off its season.

If you're a fan that's left pining for a fix, however, all you have to do is pop a copy of NHL 2K6 into your Xbox or PlayStation 2 and see and hear something remarkably similar to HNIC.

Locked Out, in song and pictures

My colleague Chris Thorne put together this bit of fun - a collection of materials photographed on the line and put to music. You can download the file from the BlogMatrix host here.

And on a goofier note ...

Ken Cave, who's been doing yeoman service keeping the site of the St. John's local running, has posted pictures from "crazy hat day" on the Team 6 line this week. You can find them here. (As Ken notes, accurately, the hats happened after Wanita Bates joined our line. Coincidence? Hmmm ... )

That's radio reporter Mike Rossiter modelling his entry. You can see that pic, others from the series, and indeed a whole lot more photographs on the link above. Click here to go to the main St. John's page.

Invert the pyramid

Cindy in Yellowknife has a challenge for the senior management:

I double dare Rabinovitch or Smith to come do a secondment with me in Yellowknife when this is over. Do my job for awhile. Find out what it feels like when people say a story you did bettered their lives.

Unlocked, but preserved

CBC On The Line has a report on Andy Barrie & Co.'s final program on CIUT, with the audio of the final Toronto Unlocked broadcast posted online.

Back to politics, for a sec

This page indicates the CMG is attempting to track what individual MPs have been saying or doing re: the lockout.