The CBC’s CEO won’t confirm if executives will still be getting bonuses this year after the Crown corporation announced significant cutbacks and layoffs.
CBC journalist Adrienne Arsenault questioned CEO Catherine Tait on Dec. 4 about whether bonuses would be paid this year, after 600 layoffs were announced earlier in the day.
“It’s too early to say where we are for this year,” Ms. Tait responded during the interview on CBC News’ flagship show, The National. “We'll be looking at that like we do with all our line items in the coming months.”
Ms. Arsenault asked again if there was a chance the bonuses would happen.
“I’m not going to comment on something that hasn’t been discussed at this point,” Ms. Tait said.
On Dec. 4, the public broadcaster announced that CBC and Radio-Canada will eliminate about 600 jobs and leave about 200 vacancies unfilled in light of a $125-million budget shortfall.
CBC said some of the cuts are expected to be immediate, while others will happen over the coming year as it grapples with budget pressures. It attributes the cuts to an increase in production costs, declining television advertising revenue, and competition from digital media giants.
CBC and Radio-Canada have said they will each cut roughly 250 jobs, with the remaining layoffs coming from its corporate divisions such as technology and infrastructure.
“CBC/Radio-Canada is not immune to the upheaval facing the Canadian media industry,” said Ms. Tait in a Dec. 4 statement. “We’ve successfully managed serious structural declines in our business for many years, but we no longer have the flexibility to do so without reductions.”
It’s not the first time CBC has tried to address its budget shortfalls. Earlier in the year, it cut more than $25 million in spending, including travel, sponsorships, and marketing, The Canadian Press reported.
CBC also says it will be reducing English and French programming budgets. This includes roughly $40 million for independent productions and program acquisitions.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said the cuts were “very sad news.”
When asked by reporters if the government would exempt the CBC from cuts announced in the spring budget, Ms. Freeland said that strong journalism is “essential for democracy.”
“Our government strongly supports CBC/Radio-Canada. We see this in several measures and several steps that our government has taken,” she said. “We will continue to be there.”
The government has committed to cutting spending across departments and agencies by three percent in the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre questioned CBC bonuses on social media the day the layoffs were announced.
“CBC says it’s broke again and laying off staff. This after they paid $99 million in bonuses to incompetent executives and Liberal talking heads,” Mr. Poilievre said in a Dec. 4 post on X.
Documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation earlier this year showed the public broadcaster has awarded more than $99 million in bonuses between 2015 and 2022. Last year, it gave out $16 million in bonuses.
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said the CBC announcement demonstrates the problems media companies are facing.
“I think that there’s a sense of urgency for the media sector in general,” Ms. St-Onge told reporters.
She added that the climate for media organizations in Canada was why the government introduced the Online News Act and is seeking to “modernize” the Broadcast Act.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
