Thursday 14 March 2013

PKP Steps Aside Forum

PKP has stepped aside as president and CEO of Quebecor Inc. and Quebecor Media.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/pladeau-stepping-down-as-quebecor-chief/article9759513/

Is it a light at the end of the tunnel after 14 years of Sun Media mayhem for employees past and present?

Are you hopeful for positive change, or do you expect it to be more of the same old, same old?

Is it too little, too late for the chain's newspapers?

Have your say.

24 comments:

  1. Same old, same old ... So sad and there are more than one (so-called 'retired') Sun 'originals' you could have fit this post.

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  2. Good riddance to bad rubbish!! Hopefully, he takes along some senior management at the Sun. You people in the corner offices know you are!!

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  3. Most likely the last nail in the coffin. He's being replaced by the head of the cable company.

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  4. The author of the article of the article linked above posted the following on Twitter:

    Steve Ladurantaye ‏@sladurantaye
    Source: "Peladeau even without a title will not give up an inch of overall control. Not an inch."

    In other words, the poor folks that still work for this company will still have to endure the endless B.S. that flows from above. While the big boys in Quebec play musical chairs, those of us clinging to what is left of our morale in the editorial division of Sun Media are left to continuously twist in the wind and work under adverse conditions.
    But, hey, PKP is proud of what he's done with regards to "driving Québec’s economic development and the thousands of high-tech jobs we have created." That's a plus for him, I suppose.

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  5. same old same old.
    and pierre goes on now to focus on buying his beloved hockey team

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  6. Quebecor has gutted the Canadian newspaper industry. Easily the CRTC's worst mistake was to allow this company to gain control over so many dailies. The rich get richer and the people who try and make the newspapers relevant get shafted. So, Brian Mulroney's on the board, what could possibly go wrong?

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    1. I agree. Osprey Media should had been sold to Black Press and accepted the termination fee since they initially accepted Quebecor Media's offer.

      I remember that the bigwigs at Quebecor Media threatened to sue if they went with the offer made by Black Press. I guarantee you that the newspapers would have been wildly different today if they were owned by Black Press, not Quebecor Media.

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  7. Bye Bye Quebecor Inc. Hello Quebecor Media. Things are about to get even more interesting!

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  8. what do you mean by this? bye bye quebecor inc?

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    1. Yeah, I don't get it either. Quebecor Media bought the newspapers, and they are under Quebecor, Inc.

      Quebecor is Quebecor.

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  9. doesn't this all seem so familiar? anyone remember Quebecor World? PKP ran that into the ground, left and came to help out at Sun Media. Glad I took the lump sum at least I have my money before there is none left.

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  10. Today I was browsing a used book store, one of my favourite past times, when I noticed a bright orange book cover with the recognizable red circle of The Sun, and those words inside the circle. I picked up the book, called Sunburned, Memoirs of a Newspaperman by Douglas Creighton. With interest I opened up the cover and read that he was suddenly and abruptly dismissed by the Sun's board of directors in November 1992, one year shy of his retirement.
    That just saddened me that such a great man was treated like that and I realized that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
    This brings me to the question, we are journalists, so why do we allow the corporate world, the board of directors to treat us like that? Most of us became journalists for the pursuit of truth and justice. But yet we don't fight for it for ourselves......
    Isn't there anything we can do to fight the greedy board of directors who only feel they have to answer to the shareholders?

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    1. Yeah, it's called capitalism.

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    2. True. But capitalism gone amok?

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    3. No, I don't think so. This is what companies do when they have shareholders. The company at one time or another went to the stock market to raise funds for its ventures. Dividends are then paid to shareholders. But many of these shareholders didn't really invest into the company. They invested in the paper. They get profits before most others, and employees are at the bottom of the totem. Remember that board of directors are often shareholders. The goal is more and more profit. If it means unemployment, well... This is just capitalism.
      I remember when I wrote about forestry issues in Thunder Bay, I was told about the Swedes who had a forestry model where excess profits were put into trust, to be used during the years when the economy crashed. The trust was opened to fund work projects to wait out the recession, so employment remains high. It was part of the reason why Sweden, what? the size of New England, could compete with Canada in the pulp and paper industry, both in price and supply. We are slash and burn, while they take a different approach. That's the capitalism I prefer: People first. Working people buy things.

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    4. I agree, working people buy things. Sweden is a good example. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm not into socialism. I just get frustrated with the erosion of the middle class. Plus many of us aren't in unions so who speaks for us? More and more jobs are cut and we are dumped with more and more work but we do it because we are afraid to lose our jobs. All the while the shareholders line their pockets to excess and executives get millions in performance bonuses. Doesn't make sense.
      Bottom line, like you said working people buy things.

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  11. PKP's published comments about his changing role at Quebecor.

    http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/14/new-role-for-pierre-karl-peladeau-after-25-years-quebecor-president-and-ceo-is-stepping-away-from-day-to-day-duties

    His comment about success in "Quebec and Canada" is revealing.

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    1. I got a chuckle that the photo used with PKP's little essay is from Reuters.
      Doesn't the vaunted "QMI Agency" have a picture of its own head honcho stored somewhere?

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  12. It's no different at Black Press folks. Same sh*t, different company. http://robwipond.com/?p=16#post-comments

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  13. Pauline Marois just appointed Peladeau chairman of Hydro quebec. Now he's like the province's shadow premier.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/pierre-karl-pladeau-tapped-as-new-hydro-qubec-chairman/article11309489/

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  14. Hear PKP is now the head of Quebec Hydro...

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  15. PKP to be chairman of Hydro Quebec! Make sure your flashlights have fresh batteries 'cause the lights in Quebec won't stay on long once PKP takes control.

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  16. Goodbye watercoolers at Hydro Quebec offices!

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  17. Actually, PKP will try and do a good job so he and his separatist friends will look good. He is "working" in Quebec, after all.
    Now, if he were doing something with hydro in Ontario, I suspect the province's candle industry would do quite well.

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