Fox News North: a story we should all be paying attention to

A press conference has been called by Quebecor Media Inc. for tomorrow where it is widely expected that Pierre Karl Peladeau, the billionaire media tycoon who heads Quebecor, will announce plans to launch a new cable news network in Canada modeled after the extremely provocative and extremely conservative Fox News Channel.

As first reported early last week by the Toronto Star, details have steadily been trickling out about plans for the new network, which Quebecor will only go as far as calling a "new investment in Canadian media."

Here is what is known:

• The "new investment" is a $100 MILLION joint venture between Quebecor Media Inc. and Sun Media Corp.
• Quebecor filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission earlier this month.
• Quebecor has named Kory Teneycke, the former chief spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, vice-president of development. After leaving his post in the Prime Minister's Office last July, Teneycke briefly worked as a Conservative pundit for CBC television.
• Luc Lavoie, the former chief spokesperson for former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, will also re-join Quebecor.

Here are the rumors:

• Based on past statements by Teneycke, it is speculated that the new network would adopt a format and editorial style similar to that of the Fox News Channel in the United States. Teneycke has long called for a news network that would cater to a conservative-minded audience.
• CBC reporter Krista Erickson left her position today saying, in a memo to coworkers, that she was "leaving to pursue another opportunity." It is widely-speculated that she will be named to a top post in the new Quebecor network. Erickson is the girlfriend of Conservative MP for Calgary Centre Lee Richardson. She once got into trouble for feeding questions to a Liberal MP during committee hearings into the business relationship between Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber.

There has been much more speculation, and a great deal of commentary on the alledged plans for the new network in the press today. One thing for sure is known: a new network based on the Fox model would be unprecedented in the history of Canadian politics and would surely have a profound effect on the political and journalistic climate in this country.

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Pierre Karl Peladeau, President and CEO of Quebecor Inc.