Vancouuver: Carole Taylor, a former broadcaster and civic politician, was named chair of the board of directors for the CBC July 16.

The Vancouverite’s appointment by Prime Minister Jean Chretien marks the first time in the public broadcaster’s 65-year history that the top job has gone to someone from outside Ontario or Quebec. And, in another first, Taylor will run the board from Vancouver. Her appointment is effective immediately.

Unlike her predecessor Guylaine Saucier – who quit before completing her five-year term after clashing with ongoing president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch – Taylor knows broadcasting from the inside.

Taylor, who is not bilingual in French, came to prominence as the first host of CTV’s Canada AM before moving on to W5, for which she interviewed former Vancouver mayor and then-Liberal MP Art Phillips. The two married and she branched into politics, eventually becoming a Vancouver city counselor in 1986 and an advisor to Chretien in the most recent federal election.

Between 1997 and 1999, she was chair of the Canada Ports Corporation and Vancouver Port Corporation, and was recently named chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Taylor’s appointment, meanwhile, is regarded as a boost to the CBC regions outside of Toronto and Montreal.

‘My commitment is to work with all stakeholders to help generate support for CBC/Radio-Canada, so that we can continue to provide high-quality, distinctively Canadian programming for our Canadian audiences,’ says Taylor in an official statement.

Taylor’s appointment dashes the efforts by CEO Rabinovitch, who has been acting chair since the departure of Saucier, to hold both jobs. *

-www.cbc.ca

-www.radio-canada.ca