Elections bring new leadership to Canadian Media Guild

The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) will begin the new year with an almost total refresh of its national leadership in the wake of recent elections.

Annick Forest was acclaimed president of CWA Canada’s largest Local, which has about 6,000 members.

Helen Bagshaw was elected vice-president, defeating Brent Cousland; Olena Sullivan overcame Adam Lytle for the position of secretary-treasurer.

Retaining the position of director of Francophone issues is Alexandre Lauzon, who was elected by acclamation. Also acclaimed were directors Erin Pottie (precarious workers) and Morgan Sharp (small branches).

Forest has worked at CBC/Radio-Canada for over 30 years in positions ranging from news producer to reporter and resource specialist, in Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver. She has been active in CMG since 2005, sitting on various branch and national committees and serving as president of the Vancouver Local.

Voting, which took place Oct. 11 to Nov. 21, was union-wide for national positions; branch executives are elected by their own members. The automated online voting system is run by an independent third party. (Full results are on the CMG website.)

Naomi Robinson defeated Elke Semerad to claim the presidency of CMG’s largest branch, CBC/Radio-Canada.

The other branch that had a contest for president was APTN, won by Bruce Spence over Dennis Rondeau.

Several of CMG’s branches saw executive positions filled by acclamation, while others had no candidates.