Ottawa, October 6, 1997 — The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) announces the appointment of Suzanne Gouin and Pierre-Louis Smith to its Quebec Regional Council.
Suzanne Gouin, a broadcaster representative, is the Director of News and Current Affairs at CFCF-TV in Montreal, prior to which she worked as a Producer at Société Radio-Canada from 1991 to 1994. Ms. Gouin is a member of the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), and in 1996 won the RTNDA Regional Award for “Best Newscast, Television” for a series of four newscasts. She was also an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (Quebec region) from 1991 to 1995; an Executive Producer of the Prix Gémeaux Gala in 1991, 1992 and 1993; Prix Gémeaux Award Regulations Committee Chairperson in 1991; and an Environment 2000 Executive Committee Member.
Pierre-Louis Smith is Director of Regulatory Affairs at Télé-Métropole and the TVA Network in Montreal. Mr. Smith joined Télé-Métropole in January 1995 as Senior Advisor, Regulatory Affairs, and was appointed to his current position in September 1996. Previously, he spent three years within the Radio Branch at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC), as a Policy Analyst for the French language radio sector. He began his career in broadcasting in 1985 as the co-founder and first station manager of CISM-FM, the radio station of the University of Montreal, from which he graduated with a B.A. in 1984.
CBSC National Chair Ron Cohen stated: “For the past month, Quebeckers and Ontarians, Francophone and Anglophone alike, have sent letters and e-mails to the Council concerning the Howard Stern Show, now being broadcast in the Montreal and Toronto markets. The thoughtful, dedicated and unbiased role historically played by the CBSC’s volunteer members from industry and the public alike has been the backbone of the adjudication process. The pressures on them to deliver the same objective quality of decision-making will continue in this dossier. In addition to our present members, we are fortunate to be able to attract industry representatives with the stature of Suzanne Gouin and Pierre-Louis Smith to join the Quebec Regional Council in our deliberations.”
The Quebec Regional Council, like all CBSC Regional Councils, is made up of three public and three broadcast representatives. The Chair of the Quebec Council is Pierre Audet, a public member. Yvon Chouinard, Executive Vice President of Power Broadcasting, is the Vice-Chair. The other public members are Peta Tancred and Marc Gervais.
Created in 1990 to administer industry self-regulatory codes on ethics, gender portrayal and violence, the CBSC’s membership includes approximately 400 private sector television and radio stations from across Canada. The CBSC received formal endorsement from the CRTC in 1991. To date over 80 decisions have been released by the CBSC, most of which are available, in addition to our codes and other relevant information, on the net at www.cbsc.ca.
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