Effective: October 25, 1978
Revised: February 7, 1995
POLICY 1
Any provincial premier may occasionally request and be granted access to the facilities of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to raise issues of exceptional importance to the citizens of that province. Such occasions are intended for the discussion of essentially provincial matters whose significance justifies a departure from normal practice.
For this purpose, the Corporation has established a class of free time broadcasts. Such broadcasts will normally be carried on the English and French radio and television stations of the province concerned within the framework of regular programs, and scheduled when appropriate during prime time.
Any request for access to air time in this category will be made to the Corporation at least 24 hours in advance of broadcast and will specify the subject matter of the intended broadcast.
Access is not available after the writs for a provincial general election have been issued. During by-election campaigns, programs in this category will not be broadcast in the constituencies involved.
The right of reply by the Opposition is automatic: the Leader of the Opposition and the leaders of the other recognized political parties in the legislative or national Assembly will be offered time to reply in comparable format and at a comparable and mutually agreeable time.
Where access is granted to a provincial premier to seek the cooperation of the citizens of the province in an urgent matter of public emergency, such as a natural disaster, there is of course no right of reply by the Opposition.
RESPONSIBILITY
Requests by provincial premiers for access should be referred to the appropriate Director of the Region except in Quebec where the requests should be made to the office of the appropriate network vice-president.
Corporate Secretariat
May 1995
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