Over the weekend, bloggers noticed a sharp upswing in internet searches for "Cathy Rushton" with some interesting adjectives added that indicated what could politely be described as a parting of the ways.
Then on Wednesday, TGCTS received the following email from Barb Judt of Osborne House:
Hi Marty:
When I called RRC today and asked to speak with Cathy Rushton, they advised me that she wasn’t in. When I asked when would she be back, I was told that she ‘would NOT be back at the College’.
Other sources confirm her departure, suggesting that Rushton officially hit the bricks last Friday, June 3, right after the spring convocation and before this weeks' golf tournament.
The timing would be exactly two weeks after the CRTC received an official document from Kick-FM admitting that its 4 member "Executive Committee" (which included Rushton and RRC administrator Larry Partap last November and claimed it had the authority to arbitrarily cancel TGCTS) did not have any legal powers whatsoever under the Bylaws or voted by the Board of Directors.
CRTC rules are very strict about requiring care and control of campus radio licences by a balanced Board of Directors at all times, yet the document indicated the "Executive Committee" (made up of the officers of the corporation) has been making decisions on short notice for years about the station without consulting the other directors, supposedly telling them after the fact what the foursome had done.
Manitoba Companies Office filings show Rushton was an officer of Cre Comm Inc, which holds the radio licence, from Day 1 until Dec 14, 2010.
The listener had meticulously collected and cross-referenced emails, official records, and media reports to raise extensive questions about whether CreComm Radio Inc was breaking CRTC rules and its own Bylaws in the way it handled financial and conflict of interest issues, conducted its corporate affairs, and structured the Board of Directors.
Rushton had been the college’s chief financial officer since 1995, and the vice-president of finance and administration since 2006. She has been mired in controversy for over half a year, after official records proved she had:- circulated false claims to College and station officials that Mayor Sam Katz had complained about TGCTS to former President, Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, and refused to correct the records held by the College about Katz;
- ignored the official complaint policy of the station which she had received last August, that required the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council procedure be followed and complaints about Kick-FM programs be put in writing to the station manager;
- admitted censorship was the real reason behind axing the show,
- invented a false reference to the "Executive Committee" having held a meeting to make their "decision" to cancel the show
- mocked the Winnipeg Police Association as well as other listeners from the community who spoke out in support of Marty Gold, and
- misinformed the Board in December after it heard Gold's appeal for reinstatement saying that federal Treasury Board minister Vic Toews had complained about the show, when Toews had actually questioned Thomson and Forsyth about the rumours regarding the Winnipeg Free Press being behind the cancelation.
RELATED:
http://blackrod.blogspot.com/2011/06/heads-roll-at-red-river-college-shhh.html
**************
Welcome to readers of my column in todays' Winnipeg Sun, about the unforeseen potential dangers of extending the hours the traditional Manitoba social can be open:
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/06/09/liquor-kiosk-plan-spells-trouble#disqus_thread
Want to hear us return to a regular audio format ?
email: martygoldlive@gmail.com for more information on how you can help make it happen.
Follow us on Twitter: @TGCTS
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=2344284529
