Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Hey Did Juneau this ? I Didn't .He Had the Awards Show Named After Him....Now Juno the Rest of the Story

OTTAWA—A long-time friend of Pierre Trudeau who had the Juno awards named after him after a career spent championing Canadian performers as head of the CRTC and CBC has died.

Pierre Juneau, who was 89, was remembered fondly Tuesday by his successors at the institutions he helped shape.

“We join Canadians in celebrating his legacy as the architect of Canadian content regulations, and the dynamic cultural industry that has since flourished,” acting CRTC chairman Leonard Katz said in a statement.

CBC President Hubert Lacroix paid tribute to his predecessor’s public battles with then-prime minister Brian Mulroney over cuts to the public broadcaster’s budget.

“Pierre Juneau was a passionate defender of public broadcasting and a fervent promoter of Canadian content,” said Lacroix, who is also facing looming cuts from the current Conservative government to the CBC’s budget. “He was instrumental to shaping policy that allowed Canadians to build their own industry and their own content. We still feel his influence today.”

Juneau’s long career fighting for Canadian musicians, actors and artists began when he joined the National Film Board in 1949 eventually moving up to become head of French content.

In 1968, Trudeau made his old university friend the first president of the newly created Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission. Juneau mandated minimum standards for Canadian content on radio and television that won him few friends among broadcasters of that era.

But the Canadian music industry showed their thanks by naming their national music awards after him in 1971 — the Juno Awards.

2 comments:

Les F said...

Coming to you soon in the Ottawa area,.March 26th the 2012 Juno Awards




Cheers ! Have Fun and Remember Verdun --------------- Les

Les F said...

.....and since the Juno's have been mentioned I can now shamelessly plug a fellow Montrealer ,Leonard Cohen's song as done by fellow Canadian KD Lang ,.this gal can sing.....(Yea I know you've heard it before,but since I'm doing the posting,.here it is again from the 2005 Juno Awards


thanks for reading this post.........lol Cheers ! HF&RV - Les