After barely a year on the job, Guy Fournier has stepped down as chairman of the board at CBC amid a storm of complaints over his remarks in a Quebec gossip magazine.

Fournier shocked the Lebanese community last month when he wrote in the publication

7 jours that the law in Lebanon allows ‘men to have sexual intercourse with animals as long as they are females.’ He further riled his critics by rebuffing calls for an apology.

This followed an interview on CHOQ – a Toronto radio station aimed at Franco-Ontarians – in which the 75-year-old author, essayist and broadcaster discussed the pleasures of defecation. His remarks were later rebroadcast on the hit Radio-Canada talk show Tout le monde en parle.

Bev Oda, the minister of heritage, announced Fournier’s resignation to Parliament on Sept. 5. CBC president Robert Rabinovitch will fill in until the prime minister names a new chairman.

Rabinovitch also served as Ceeb chair last year, following the springtime departure of Carole Taylor, now the B.C. finance minister.

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