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Anna Maria Tremonti, Carol Off and Nahlah Ayed have also signed the petition calling on the CBC to protect its documentary department by placing it under its News and Current Affairs division.

“CBC Television, to be true to its core mandate, needs more long-form journalism and legacy programming — not less,” states the letter, sent to president Hubert Lacroix and head of English services Heather Conway.

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By 2020, the broadcaster plans to slash 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, although it says that goal will in part be fulfilled by retirements and attrition. These staff reductions are in addition to the 657 job cuts it announced in April.

In a heated town hall with employees, CBC president Hubert Lacroix faced calls to resign. He said the broadcaster must transform itself from a “producer to a multi-platform broadcaster” in order to stay afloat.

He said that advertising revenues have shifted to global players like Facebook and Google and financial support for public broadcasters has decreased. Even conventional private broadcasters are not profitable, he said.

“The system is broken,” he said. “Meantime, as these shifts are happening, large numbers continue to watch television and listen to radio in traditional ways. In fact, Canadians on average are watching more television, not less.

“So these services will continue to be relevant and essential in this new media universe. We’re actually moving from a conventional world whose model is declining towards a new world that cannot yet pay its own way.”