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Global News to cut nearly 80 jobs; 21 in Vancouver

Corus-owned broadcaster will lose both on-air and off-air staff
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Global News plans to produce some newscasts in Atlantic Canada out of Toronto

Corus-owned Global News is cutting nearly 80 jobs across Canada, including 21 in Vancouver, which is the city that is hardest hit, according to union Unifor.

Of the camera operators, reporters, anchors, control room staff, make-up artists and other production crew that received layoff notices, 69 are Unifor members, according to the union.

“Fewer journalists will be out gathering news from every region from Vancouver to Halifax,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias in a release.

“The CRTC paved the way for the cuts announced today by watering down the obligations for big media companies like Corus to protect local news and it’s proving disastrous.”

The broadcaster confirmed the nearly 80 job cuts in a story on its website although it did not confirm that 21 of those affected will be from Vancouver. It then added that it "will be adding approximately 50 new positions, with the majority being journalists mandated to focus on underserved areas."

Unifor is asking the CRTC to review local news and make strong local coverage a binding condition of license, before it’s too late, as part of the union’s ongoing #savelocalnews campaign.

“In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, the evening local news will no longer be produced at our Halifax studios and will be anchored and broadcast from Toronto starting Monday,” said David MacPherson, president of the Maritimes unit of Unifor local M1, which represents workers at Global. “Our studios will be empty after the morning show ends at 9 am.”

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