Activists to protest 'back-door'
foreign
ownership of Canadian media
A coalition of unions and activist
groups that oppose increasing media concentration in
Canada is planning a rally Monday morning at the opening
of regulatory hearings into CanWest Global's purchase
of Alliance Atlantis.
Protest organizers maintain that the deal, bankrolled
by a major American investment firm, is foreign ownership
of the country's media by the back door. The ownership
structure is only one aspect that will be examined
by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications
Commission (CRTC) in hearings that begin Nov. 19.
CWA Canada and the Canadian Media Guild, its largest
Local, will have several people out for the 8:15 a.m.
demonstration at 140 Promenade du Portage (at Laurier)
in Gatineau, QC. Also attending will be members of
ACTRA, the Council of Canadians, Campaign for Democratic
Media, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers, the
Canadian Union of Public Employees and concerned citizens.
The unique
structure of the $2.3-billion Alliance
deal, which would see New York investment bank Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. funding almost the entire purchase
while CanWest retains voting control over the specialty
television channels, will have to satisfy commissioners
that it complies with foreign ownership rules.