Former CTV National News anchor Lloyd Robertson, who led the nightly newscast for 35 years, managed to cover huge political scandals and the greatest stories of his lifetime without alienating those whose stories he shared.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on August 10, 2026.
OTTAWA—Sixty years in broadcasting was a Canadian record. Lloyd Robertson, who died last week at 92, had spent 35 years as CTV’s chief anchor.
Roberston stepped down with the admiration of, not only fellow members of the press gallery, but also those politicians he covered on a regular basis.
He managed to cover huge political scandals and the greatest stories of his lifetime without alienating those whose stories he shared.
Why? Because Robertson was fair and balanced and always ensured his audience heard both sides of every story.
In those days, “gotcha” journalism had not yet emerged.
News ran on a 24-hour cycle, but journalists were not required to file story updates every hour on the hour. Instead, the normal rhythm of reporting would be a morning read of major national newspapers.
Often the major investigative offerings would dive deep into the details of a national story. Television had a full day to review new material and come up with an update to the story on the evening news that night.
On the evening show, a senior news editor like Robertson would likely interview the subject of the story as well as someone who had a different perspective.
It could be a minister and a member of the opposition, but in every case, there was balance to the story. The news network did not have 24 hours of time to fill so there was no need to have talking heads filling the hours between morning and night. There was also no need to have an hourly update as the main news was carried simply twice a day.
Robertson covered main world stories, including the 1969 landing on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the aerial attack on the World Trade Centre Twin Towers in 2011. Every story was fully explained, with context and appropriate interviewees. There was also much more attention paid to local and national news stories.
Reporters in different regions of the country would be available to add context to stories. Since Robertson retired a decade ago, many of those reporters have been fired. The absence of local news is obvious when you turn on a news channel.
In the last century, most major Canadian newspapers had reporters on Parliament Hill whose job it was to cover stories in their home communities.
The Hamilton Spectator had a reporter who was expert in steel, and issues related to the steel and auto industry. The reporter was constantly on the lookout for the local angle, so when a national budget was released, the first story they filed would have a Hamilton angle.
Most those local reporting positions have been abolished in the name of news efficiency.
Instead, most news items usually come from other countries, especially south of the border. What now passes as a Canadian news story is often a rehash of what is happening in the political scene in the United States. And most of the time, the journalist covering the story is an employee of an American network.
Is it any wonder that Canadians seem to be more knowledgeable about what is going on in Washington than in a neighbouring province?
As for reporting, in the golden days, journalists and politicians on the national level were friends with each other. The Hot Room on Parliament Hill also included an area with a pool table and a vending machine that dispensed beer. MPs and members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery would get together for beer and pool on a regular basis, forming relationships that stood the test of the news.
In addition, the Parliamentary Press Gallery ran a bar/restaurant across from Parliament Hill where both would get together. Friendships developed and reporters would get a first-hand look into the workings of a particular parliamentary session. Members of parliament also developed relationships where they felt comfortable sharing information which could form the basis of major stories.
Brown envelopes would often make their way to opposition MPs, and they would be shared with journalists. Nowadays, the official opposition treats the media as an enemy, instead of working with journalists on issues that they would like to draw attention to.
The challenges of news gathering today are very different from the six decades of Lloyd Robertson. Robertson, and other journalists of renown like Barbara Frum and Peter Mansbridge who could all ask the tough questions. But they also asked questions that were balanced, insightful, and respectful.
Too bad we can’t turn back the clock.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.