CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait has been fined for violating the Conflict of Interest Act, the ethics commissioner says.
Tait was fined $200 for breaching
subsection 22.5 of the act, which requires public office holders to report any “material change” in assets, debts, and investments within 30 days.
“Penalty is paid,” the Office of the Ethics Commissioner said in a
public notice of administrative monetary penalty issued on Oct. 30, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter. The notice indicated that Tait failed to make a required disclosure within the 30-day timeframe. It did not provide further details.
The penalty came after the commission’s
disclosure of Tait’s “sole ownership of a rental property located in Brooklyn, New York” and the sale of undisclosed stocks.
MPs have raised concerns about Tait’s spending practices, including reports of her recently billing taxpayers to attend the Paris Olympics. In her testimony before the Commons heritage committee on Oct. 21, Tait denied any wrongdoing, saying that she took time from her holiday in France to work for CBC during the Games.
Tait, who earns an annual salary of nearly $500,000, has claimed roughly
$120,000 in travel expenses over two years, covering her business class trips to Brussels, Geneva, Hollywood, Lausanne, London, Prague, and Tokyo.
Tait’s expenses, along with the $14.9 million in bonuses awarded to her and other CBC executives, have come under parliamentary scrutiny since the organization
reported financial difficulties that led to the elimination of hundreds of jobs to address a $125 million shortfall.
In the government’s Feb. 29 budget main estimates, cabinet
confirmed an increase in CBC funding by $96.1 million in 2024, bringing the total to a record $1.38 billion.
Tait accused members of the heritage committee during her Oct. 21 testimony of attempting to “vilify and discredit” both her and CBC.
“Not one question has been asked about the accomplishments of the public broadcaster over the last six years and how we have served Canadians,” she said.
Tait
testified that CBC met 13 out of 14 key performance indicators (KPIs) last year, after metrics were adjusted in response to a decline in television subscriptions. Conservative MP Damien Kurek noted that the organization met only three out of 14 KPIs for the fiscal year 2022-23.
When questioned about executive bonuses during a period of low performance for CBC, Tait said, “We do not take into consideration political winds or influences in determining our business metrics.”
“You’re trying to marginalize legitimate concerns about abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Conservative MP Jamil Jivani responded. “And you’re saying that any accountability that we are trying to introduce here as parliamentarians is purely political.”
“I will not be accused of abusing taxpayer dollars. I’m sorry; for the record, we have managed our budget extremely carefully,” Tait replied.
Tait’s term as CEO expires on Jan. 3, 2025. She will be succeeded by
Marie-Philippe Bouchard, a former executive from the Québec news channel, TV5 Québec Canada.
