Bell Media in the political crosshairs as heritage minister calls job cuts 'extremely disappointing'

Bell's decision to lay off thousands of its employees — including hundreds of journalists — has drawn the ire of the federal heritage minister, who said Thursday the telecom giant has broken a long-held promise to deliver quality local news.

Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill after Bell said it would slash 4,800 jobs, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said past governments allowed the company to consolidate media and buy up local TV and radio assets in exchange for a commitment to maintain these services.

«In the past decade, when acquisitions were allowed by these big companies, it came with a promise,» St-Onge said. «Today, they backed away from that promise.»

St-Onge said it's not like Bell is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

«They're still making billions of dollars. They're still a very profitable company and they still have the capacity and the means to hold up their end of the bargain, which is to deliver news reports,» she said.

After announcing the job cuts, Bell said it would push ahead with a more generous dividend payout to its shareholders.

Bell said it would hike its already substantial dividend by about 3 per cent to $3.99 a share, putting it among the highest payouts for a company traded on the TSX.

It also said the layoffs were prompted in part by «increasingly unsupportive federal government and regulatory decisions,» a reference to a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision that demands Bell allow wholesale access to its fibre networks.

NDP MP Peter Julian, the party's heritage critic, said Bell's layoffs are «horrible.»

«We need professional journalism. We need to be able to tell stories about each other and our country. The federal government has simply not been