Canadian Broadcasting Corporation gets new chairman

April 28, 2007 Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda has appointed Timothy W. Casgrain as the new chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

"Mr. Casgrain's credentials will bring strong leadership to the CBC," said Oda. "I am confident that his experience and sound judgement will greatly benefit the CBC."

Casgrain was born in Montreal, Quebec and studied at McGill University. In 1969, he served as a teacher in a small African town in Chad for two years. Some years later, he became an accountant. In 1976, he was chairperson of Skyservice Investments Inc., a Canadian aviation company and was Executive Vice President of the Brascan Financial Corp. In 1988, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of NBS Technologies.

Since then, Casgrain has served many other positions and has many other honours in his name. Casgrain has been a member of the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec since 1976 and is the president of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Former CBC chairman controversy
This appointment comes after former CBC chairman Guy Fournier resigned after making an "offensive" comment about defecation being more pleasurable than sexual intercourse on a French-language Toronto, Ontario radio show.

"As you grow older, you continue to go poop once a day if you are in good health, while it is not easy to make love every day. So finally, the pleasure is longer-lasting and more frequent than the other. It is just as heretical as if you read the National Post while making love. It is not to be recommended," Fournier said in the interview.

In the 9 September issue of 7 Jours, Fournier wrote:

In Lebanon, the law allows men to have sexual relations with animals as long as they are female! Doing the same thing with male beasts can result in the death penalty.

Fournier defended his comment on the Radio-Canada program, Tout le monde en parle.

Fournier resigned over it and the president of the CBC, Robert Rabinovitch, has been serving as chairman ever since.