CBC CEO Called to Testify on Executive Bonuses at Heritage Committee

Catherine Tait, president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) waits to appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa on Nov. 2, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

CBC’s top boss has been summoned to a Commons committee to answer questions on executives collecting millions of dollars in bonuses as the organization undergoes layoffs and budget constraints.

The House committee voted unanimously on Oct. 2 for CBC CEO Tait and board chair Michael Goldbloom to appear on Oct. 21 for questioning, as first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

CBC announced in December 2023 that approximately 600 CBC and Radio-Canada jobs would be eliminated and roughly 200 job vacancies left unfilled due to a $125 million budget shortfall. Tait provided testimony before the Heritage Committee Jan. 30, saying the CBC faced “chronic underfunding” and has had to “stretch limited resources to meet our mandate.”

CBC executives received a combined $14.9 million in bonuses for fiscal year 2023, with all 46 network executives receiving a total of $3,020,021 in bonuses and another 1,140 managers receiving $11,883,734 in bonuses, according to an Inquiry of Ministry response from the government released in May .

While appearing before the Heritage Committee on May 7, Tait said CBC had not yet decided if it would give bonuses to executives.

“After internal deliberations with the board of directors at our June board meeting, once we’ve had a chance to present the audited financial statements, there will be a discussion and we will inform employees,” she said.

During that committee meeting, Conservative MP Rachael Thomas accused Tait of lying during her previous appearance before the committee when she said the board of directors would make a decision at the end of the fiscal year ending March 2024. Tait objected, saying she had “made it clear” that a review of the fiscal year’s results would take place in June, following the conclusion of the fiscal year in April.

The Pierre Poilievre-led Conservatives have advocated for defunding the CBC, which receives approximately $1.4 billion in federal subsidies annually. The party has accused the public broadcaster of undercutting private sector and independent media companies while providing opinions and coverage that are “widely available in a free and competitive media marketplace.”

The Liberals have described CBC as a “fundamental Canadian institution” whose mandate needs an update. During the 2021 election the government pledged to provide $400 million over four years to to help make the public broadcaster less reliant on private advertising.