Bell CEO Mirko Bibic will face a parliamentary committee for the second time in recent weeks next month.
Members of the Canadian Heritage Committee voted to summon the executive to answer questions about the company’s job cuts at their March 21st meeting.
In February, Bell announced it was reducing its workforce by nine percent, cutting 4,800 jobs as part of its largest restructuring in 30 years.
Bibic is scheduled to appear on April 11th after two previously failed attempts on February 29th and March 19th.
According to Cartt, Bell asked the committee to reschedule the original February 29th meeting, agreeing on the March 19th date. The committee suspended its February 27th meeting. It resumed on March 19th, leading to Bell’s appearance to face a second date change, the publication reports.
NDP MP Niki Ashton introduced the motion to summon Bell’s CEO at the March 21st meeting. Two days prior, she wrote an open letter to Bibic, which pointed to past correspondence from the CEO stating he was unable to attend a meeting until the end of May.
“Perhaps if any of the 4800 employees you fired still had their job, you’d have less on your plate,” Ashton wrote.
“This committee isn’t just a personal inconvenience that can be put off again. You owe it to Canadians to explain how Bell just enacted its largest job layoff in over 30 years.”
Last week, Bell laid off 400 employees through virtual meetings, in a move Unifor called “absolutely disgusting.” The company told MobileSyrup that the layoffs were part of its February announcement.
This is the second summons the Bell CEO has faced from MPs in recent weeks.
Bibic appeared before the Industry Committee on March 18th alongside the CEOs of Rogers and Telus.
The committee previously asked the three executives to appear in the past to answer questions about telecom pricing in Canada. MPs appeared visibly annoyed when the three companies sent other lower-level executives to a meeting last month, ultimately leading to the summons.
Source: Canadian Heritage Committee, NDP
