Postmedia has announced 54 layoffs at the Vancouver Sun and The Province by early April

GENERAL:

Postmedia has announced 54 layoffs at the Vancouver Sun and The Province by early April after another 38 staff opted to take voluntary buyouts. The layoffs are part of cost-cutting plans that look to reduce salary costs across the chain by 20%. Postmedia is also significantly reducing benefits, including retiree benefits for those who retire on or after Aug. 31, 2017, access to counselling through an employment assistance program, and top-ups on maternity and parental leave, effective Aug. 31.

The CRTC is wading back into the dispute between Bell Canada and the City of Hamilton over interpretation of its municipal access agreement, setting out the carrier’s access to highways and other public places. The commission has issued a call for comments on whether or not Bell Canada should be required to provide the city with the vertical coordinates for its underground facilities as part of the pre-design process, and if so, in what form those vertical coordinates should be. The CRTC has previously tried to resolve the dispute, both in Jan. 2015 and Feb. 2016. Comments are due by April 10.

Journalists from CBC Radio’s The Current and the Ottawa Citizen are among the big winners of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario annual media awards. Both news outlets garnered two awards in the competition, which celebrates outstanding journalism that shines a spotlight on nursing, health and health-care issues. Winners also include journalists from Global News, CTV, CBC Marketplace and Metroland Media. You can view the full list here.

The 12th annual Ontario Association of Broadcasters’ Career Day was held March 6 at Corus Entertainment in Toronto. Fifty broadcast professionals volunteered to talk with 366 students from 12 post-secondary broadcast schools at the event. This year’s panel discussion Future You: Planning for Your Career in Media included 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM) personality Alan Cross, Francis D’Souza, senior manager of editorial, CityNews; Jeff Vidler, president, Audience Insights; and Bianca Williamson, director of people, Corus Entertainment. Andrew Mauro from Loyalist College was awarded the 2017 Michael Monty Scholarship.

The Forum Freelance Fund (FFF) has opened its 2017 competition for bursaries to help freelance journalists attend hostile environment training. The FFF bursary competition is run annually by the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma, an educational charity concerned with the physical and mental well-being of journalists. Worth $2,500 each, the bursaries are sponsored by CBC News and supported by Radio-Canada, CNW Group and individual donors, while the Forum in general, is supported by The Globe and Mail. Applications close on April 15.

Humber College journalism instructor and former Global TV reporter/producer Gregory Dennis is facing child pornography charges. Toronto Police arrested Dennis, 59, on Monday after executing a search warrant at an east end home. Dennis worked at Global TV from 1990 to 2004, before moving into a communications role with the Ontario government. The Toronto Star reports the accused was bailed out by his wife Robin Smythe, a former Global reporter herself, who is now an executive producer of CBC Radio’s As It Happens.