The CRTC has dismissed complaints by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union over Canwest’s plans to centralize its news operations.

The federal regulator sided with the Winnipeg-based broadcaster on Wednesday, saying there is ‘no evidence’ Canwest has breached the terms of its licence.

CEP had argued that the broadcaster would be violating the Broadcasting Act and its licence should it go ahead with plans to relocate Global news operations from markets including Victoria, Red Deer and Hamilton to more urban centers such as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.

The complaint came in 2007 after the broadcaster announced it would scale down its local news efforts and cut 200 jobs.

The CRTC says it was unable to find wrongdoing in terms of its regulations, pointing out that only certain technical aspects of the newscasts will be moved while ‘control over the content of those newscasts will remain with the local stations.’

Responding to CEP’s allegation that Canwest is not honoring its commitment to local programming, the CRTC — after reviewing program logs — responded that nearly all of the stations are ‘fulfilling or exceeding’ local programming requirements.

The regulator also dismissed CEP’s call for a public hearing to deal with the matter, saying ‘there’s no reason’ to hold a proceeding.

Debt-laden Canwest cut 560 jobs this past November, which amounts to roughly 5% of its workforce. Over 200 of the jobs lost were at its news divisions. The CRTC noted that it is ‘sensitive’ to the job losses at Canwest, but said they ‘do not have direct bearing on a licensee’s compliance.’

CEP could not be reached for comment.