CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait is defending the billing of an $1,000-per-night hotel stay during her trip to the Paris Olympics, telling a parliamentary committee she paused her holidays to attend the opening ceremony on behalf of the news organization.
Tait made the comments while testifying before the Heritage Committee on Oct. 21, where she was summoned to answer questions on executives collecting millions of dollars in bonuses as the organization undergoes layoffs and budget constraints.
Tait testified that being at the opening of the Olympics on July 26 was “absolutely expected of me,” and that it would have been “concerning if the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada did not attend the opening of the Olympics, given it was one of the most important events of our calendar year.” CBC was Canada’s official broadcaster for the event.
Conservative MP Jamil Jivani said taxpayers may be concerned with Tait “deciding when your personal time ends and your billable time begins,” and asked if she could understand why her trip could be “concerning to the average Canadian.”
Questioned on Bonus Pay
During her appearance before the committee, Tait was also questioned about $18.4 million in bonuses the organization paid out to 1,194 employees in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Over $3.3 million was paid to 45 CBC executives, while $10.4 million was paid out to 631 managers and over $4.6 million was paid to 518 other employees.
CBC has been criticized by Conservative MPs for giving out bonuses while over the same period cutting 141 jobs and eliminated another 205 vacancies.
Tait defended the bonuses, characterizing them as “performance pay” for non-unionized CBC employees, where a portion of their salary is withheld at the beginning of the year and given out later if they meet key performance indicators. Tait also said she did not receive a bonus for the 2023 or 2024 fiscal years.
Conservative MP Damien Kurek asked Tait, whose term as CBC president is set to end in January 2025, if she would commit to not taking a bonus or severance package at the conclusion of her term.
“I believe that Canadians would expect that the corporation honour its commitments to its non-unionized employees, as it would to its unionized employees,” she said, adding later that it was a “personal matter” protected by the Privacy Act.
NDP MP Niki Ashton asked Tait if she was concerned that her decision to give out bonuses to executives had contributed to criticism of the CBC by Conservative MPs. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he intends to “defund” the CBC if his party forms government.
Tait said executive bonuses were at the same levels as they had been for the last decade, and said the organization needed to act in a way that was “independent and fiscally responsible” for its employees.
“We had commitments to over 1,000 employees, and we met those commitments, we heard the concerns, and we have taken action and ordered a third-party review of our compensation policies,” she said.
“Beyond that, I cannot see how else we could respond without having, quite frankly, caused Canadians to be concerned about the true independence of their public broadcaster.”
