Quebec TV Exec to Replace Catherine Tait as Head of CBC

People walk into the CBC building in Toronto on April 4, 2012. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

Marie-Philippe Bouchard, a seasoned executive from a Quebec news channel, has been tapped to lead Canada’s national public broadcaster.

Bouchard’s appointment as the next president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada was announced on Oct. 22. She will begin her five-year term on Jan. 3, 2025. Bouchard will replace Catherine Tait, whose tenure was renewed in June and is set to expire in January 2025.

Bouchard has been president and CEO of TV5 Québec Canada since February 2016, overseeing the TV5 Unis channels and other digital platforms for Francophone audiences in Canada. Before joining TV5 Québec Canada, she held senior executive positions at CBC/Radio-Canada, managing various departments including legal, strategic, and digital services.

“Public service media all around the world serve as a precious public asset. As society changes at a fast pace, so must our public broadcaster, continuing to build trust in order to remain relevant to all Canadians,” Bouchard said an Oct. 22 news release from Canadian Heritage, which oversees CBC/Radio-Canada.

Bouchard was previously a member of an advisory committee appointed by Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge in May to modernize the mandate of the national public broadcaster, including to review its long-term funding mechanisms. CBC/Radio-Canada primarily relies on an annual parliamentary appropriation of roughly $1.2 billion.

Tait, the current president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, has been advocating for a long-term financial structure, such as a charter, similar to the BBC’s six-year funding agreement with the UK government.

CBC/Radio-Canada president and chief executive Catherine Tait waits to testify before a House of Commons committee in Ottawa, on Jan. 30, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Tait has come under scrutiny for announcing significant job cuts at the broadcaster and reporting a financial shortfall while many executives continued to receive bonuses.

Last December, CBC announced the elimination of 600 jobs and the decision not to fill 200 vacancies over the following year to address a $125 million shortfall.

Tait testified before the Heritage Committee in January that the public broadcaster has faced “chronic underfunding” while operating across multiple time zones.

MPs questioned Tait about $14.9 million in bonuses awarded to executives last year, despite the reported financial constraints. According to a government response to an Inquiry of Ministry released in May, 46 network executives received a total of $3,020,021 in bonuses, while 1,140 managers received $11,883,734.

Tait described executive compensation as “at-risk or performance pay,” distinguishing it from the end-of-year bonuses common in the private sector. A portion of managerial salaries is withheld and paid only if the organization meets predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs). If the corporation fails to meet its KPIs, part of the “at-risk” compensation is retained, as occurred in the fiscal year 2022-2023 when CBC did not achieve two of its indicators, MPs heard.

Conservative MP Rachael Thomas commented during Tait’s questioning that the performance awards were given despite declining viewership.

“The viewership of the CBC has cut in half since you took leadership in 2018. It has come down by half, so it’s interesting to me that you’re giving bonuses—or performance awards—when, in fact, the CBC is performing the poorest it has ever performed,” Thomas said. “Bonuses keep going up; they keep skyrocketing, but performance, which you say the bonuses granted are based on, is actually declining significantly.”

Matthew Horwood and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.