What happened to Dan Bjarnason?

At the end of Dan Bjarnason’s report on post traumatic stress disorder for Sunday, Evan said:

One more note about that story and a different tenor. That was Dan Bjarnason’s final story for CBC News. After a distinguished career spanning more than 30 years, Dan’s been a wonderful colleague, a mentor and a friend to many of us, and we will miss him. Dan, we’d welcome you back any day of the week, especially right here on Sunday. We wish you the best, Dan.

An odd way of putting it. Does welcoming him back on any future day of the week mean that on this particular Sunday, he’s not welcome?

What happened?

18 Comments

  • David Smith says:

    Dear Dan Bjarnason,
    I’m not sure if you got my note that I left for you with Wendy, Peter and the et als,
    but, I was wondering if Mr. John Dickens (Ex. Dir. – Canadian Assoc. of Journalists) &/or Ms. Mary Agnes Welsh (President- CAJ) passed along to you the information that I sent them about, amongst other things, the basis for the next hefty (very) compensation that Canadians are “culpable” to pay that is embodied in “The Australian Question” as it pertains to Canadians et al?

    If not, please let me know & I’ll see what I can do about it.

    Incidentally, I do know that Mr. Gilles Duceppe, the PRESIDENT of the Bloc Quebecois has received an interpretation of “The Question” that may further assist us in the evaluation of an enlarged sovereignty question.
    I can be contacted at:
    2173 Bradford Ave.,
    Sidney, B.C.
    V8L 2C8

    Sincerely,
    David Smith

    PS – I vaguely remember meeting you at one of parties that my father “Vito; The Godfather”, a.k.a. Prof. W.D. Smith threw for some of his students that he held back after classes. It has been awhile.

  • Anonymous says:

    does anyone know if Dan was forced out or if he actually wants to enjoy some time away from the grind, full time hours, the BS?????

    i’d wager a small sum that we’ll see him back on air… at some point in the future.

  • Anonymous says:

    The journalists who replace Dan will be contract and therefore not entitled to CBC pensions. We won’t have this problem in 20 years.

    JH

  • Anonymous says:

    Pleeese! There have have plenty of people who have retired of late – many forced. Has this opened up opportunties for the next generation? No. This company does not mentor its young or nutures and develops new talents. Training, what training? Where are the opportunites? The irony is that the “older” workers are discriminated against by managers older than them.

  • Anonymous says:

    For the life of me, I can’t understand the logic of the people who bring up the red herring of the budget crunch, of tax dolars and of other efficiency-related nonsense. Presumably, those who hire Dan to work for their shows need that work done. Either by Dan, or by someone else. Dan doesn’t get a cent more than that someone else. So how does the CBC benefit by NOT hiring Dan? It’s not as if you are going to get the money that Dan got in the package back. The package that, as was mentioned earlier, Dan was forced to take. Take shots at people who pushed Dan out for no good reason, not at Dan who is clearly still wanted by the people who put on programs.

    As for the point about some sort of “ethical” argument, it’s almost funny to invoke it when it comes to how the CBC treated Dan at the end of his wonderful career…

  • Anonymous says:

    Dan has been given a pension for 36 years of outstanding service and he has earned every penny. He is now working as a freelancer and many shows want the benefit of his experience, unique presentation and wonderful writing. He is a mentor to younger journalists and a bargain to a corporation looking for talented contract hires with liability. This idea of moving aside for younger journalists and others if nonsense. Our core audience is 55 plus and anyone in this business who has talent will shine regardless of the Dan’s, Joe’s or Knowltan’s – all who have continued on in some capacity after leaving the corp. In fact they may even benefit from the wonderful examples put forward by these fine journalists. If you want good value for your tax dollar, get him back on air.

  • cbcfrank says:

    …but when the Corp is facing a budget crisis and a number of shows have been asked to slim down…

    Therein lies the rub: if you’re asked to cut back, then cut back! That means if the show hasn’t been sacked altogether, the remaining shows need to scale back their production values so that they’ll need to live with inexperienced talent, and less complexity in the production.

    I have yet to see this happen. They always want more, more, more.

  • Sarah says:

    It might be horse manure booting a veteran journalist out, but when the Corp is facing a budget crisis and a number of shows have been asked to slim down, what do you do?
    There are plenty of people eligible for retirement who stay on for various reasons, but there comes a time when they have to make room for the next generation and how the CBC treats its new and younger employees is just as deplorable as how it treats its old.

  • Anonymous says:

    This stuff about Double Dipping is pure horse manure.
    What these people are saying that once you take a package or retire you’re supposed to go right from the Toronto Broadcast Centre to the old folks home and then rot away for the rest of your life.

    Dan ceased to be a full time employee of the Crazy Broadcasting Corporation. And now he is forbidden by some beancounter in HR who probably has never done a creative thing in their life (except creative accounting)to do any creative freelance work from now on, at least for the CBC. (Is anyone from CTV reading this??)

    That’s ridiculous and likely a case of age discrimination as well.

    If Dan wrote an Op Ed piece for the New York Times, I am sure the CBC haters out there would still call it double dipping.

  • Anonymous says:

    This last comment is ridiculous. Does anyone outside the CBC think it’s an ethical argument that it’s OK to take the pension and the settlement and still take the taxpayers money by double dipping just because the replacement person might not be as good as the person who took all the money and retired?

    Is this really how we want our tax dollars to be spent?

    Do ]

  • Anonymous says:

    The point about “double-dipping” is ludicrous, almost like the kid who kills his parents, then complains about being an orphan. THEY FORCED HIM TO TAKE THE PACKAGE by giving him the most demeaning assignments. Now let me throw in one other cliche about cutting off your nose to spite your face. Dan will continue to get his pension and keep his severance pay, whether or not the CBC hires him on a freelance basis. So what’s the logic — pay someone else Dan’s contract money on an ad hoc basis for a poorer result on air? Now, that’s really smart and efficient…

  • Anonymous says:

    HR has been cracking down on the double-dipping all across the board – it isn’t personal. They’ve been lax about it in the past but recently they’ve decided to cut it out.

  • Anonymous says:

    being talented and resourceful is often not at all to your advantage around the CBC.

    Some of the most talented people I know around here are the ones getting pushed down to 2 or 3 days a week, busted down to unskilled work, or simply pushed out entirely.

    It says loads about our management.

  • Anonymous says:

    I’m sure no one in HR would have an issue with him contnuing to work if Dan returned the money from his severance package and stopped collecting his pension. You can’t have it both ways, it’s called double-dipping.

  • Anonymous says:

    Word is that Dan was told that he cannot both take a package and work on contract at CBC. But in fact, he had been doing for two years as have MANY other people. I hear all the shows he worked for wanted him to continue…
    Dan is a top notch journalist and yet someone in human resources has pushed him out for some obscure reason…Accounting? Come on…
    This seems to illustrate everything bad about a place: pushing aside those who are top quality, wanted and productive. Someone in management who knows about this ought to fix the situation…..for Dan’s sake and for viewers.

  • Anonymous says:

    Dan took a package before the lockout and then came back on contracts and continued his great reporting.

    So why now is he persona non grata?

    Something stinks, some place.

  • Anonymous says:

    For years I wondered if it was Dan. B. Arneson, Danby Arnesson or, you know, how he actually spells his name. Sad to see him go.

  • Anonymous says:

    Dan was working for the National magazine but then they pushed him out and forced him into the daily news pool. It seemed like an effort to push him to the edge and make him quit. The CBC does nasty things to older workers. One day they love you.. next day you’re dirt. You could be an award-winning journalist and suddenly they bring in some airhead young thing with good looks and you’re out the door.

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