This week, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which represents non-CBC radio and television broadcasters across Canada, awarded its annual Gold Ribbon Awards for “excellence” in broadcasting.

Looking at the list of finalists and especially the winners, it’s clear that Quebec is vastly under-represented here, both on the anglophone and francophone sides. In fact, only one Quebec-based broadcaster won an award, and that was the one specifically for French-language broadcasting. CKMF won the “Humour – French” category for its insanely hilarious Les 2 minutes du peuple.

Looking at the list of finalists, here’s how it stacks up for Montreal and Quebec:

Number of nominations for anglophone Quebec broadcasters: 2

• CJAD 800 (Breaking news for Dawson Virginia Tech shooting)
• CFCF (Diversity in news and information programming for My Montreal)

Number of nominations for francophone broadcasters outside of French-only categories: 5

• Info 690 Montreal (Diversity in news and information programming for Philippe Bonville en Afghanistan)
• CJDM 92.1FM Drummondville (Promotion: Audience building for Drummond Matin)
• CKMF Énergie 94.3 Montreal (Promotion: Station image for Le week-end des hits perdus)
• CFGS Gatineau (Television documentaries for De Gatineau au Kilimandjaro)
• CJNT Montreal (Television magazine programming for Le Pont)

Number of categories with no nominations for Quebec-based or francophone broadcasters: 16

• Radio community service (large market)
• Radio community service (medium market)
• Radio community service (small market)
• Radio humour (English)
• Radio information program
• Promotion of Canadian musical talent
• What radio does best
• Television community service (large market)
• Television community service (medium market)
• Television community service (small market)
• Television entertainment programming
• Television fictional programming
• Television breaking news
• Television special/series and public affairs
• Television promotion (station image)
• Television promotion (Canadian program/series)

Nominees in the humour (French) category: 5

• CFTX-FM, Tag Radio 96,5, RNC MEDIA INC., Gatineau (Katastrophe)
• CIGB-FM, Énergie 102,3, Astral Media Inc., Trois-Rivières (C’est l’fun de bonne heure)
• CKMF-FM, Énergie 94,3, Astral Media Inc., Montréal (Les 2 minutes du peuple)
• CKMF-FM, Énergie 94,3, Astral Media Inc., Montréal (Le Retour de Dominic et Martin)
• CKMF-FM, Énergie 94,3, Astral Media Inc., Montréal (Salvail Racicot pour Emporter)

Now, let’s compare these numbers to other ones I’ve compiled:

• Nominations for broadcasters in Vanvouver: 17
• Nominations for broadcasters in B.C. outside of Vancouver: 11
• Nominations for broadcasters in Alberta: 12.5*
• Nominations for broadcasters in Saskatchewan: 7.5*
• Nominations for broadcasters in Toronto: 16
• Nominations for broadcasters in Ottawa: 6

* Stupid Lloydminster. Pick a province, we’re at war.

So Quebec’s seven non-token nominations rank Canada’s second-largest province about on par with Saskatchewan, a province with 1/7th our population. Does that sound right?

I’m not including pay and specialty channels here, because Montreal is fairly well represented here through MétéoMédia and Astral Media’s Canal D, Canal Vie, and Ztélé, all based out of Montreal. Astral media ended up winning awards here (two for Canal Vie and one for Ztélé), which I think shows how little original programming Canadian specialty TV contributes.