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The Liberal government is refusing to say if it approved a bonus for the head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., as Opposition Conservatives demand answers and New Democrats call for a ban on bonuses.
It is up to the federal government to approve a bonus for Catherine Tait following a review of her performance and recommendation by the board of directors at CBC/Radio-Canada.
CBC deferred questions to the federal government. Canadian Heritage, which oversees the Crown corporation, then deferred questions to the Privy Council Office, which supports cabinet and the prime minister.
Citing privacy laws, a spokesperson for the Privy Council Office said it cannot disclose details, even though some of that information from past years has been made public.
In May, Tait told the House heritage committee that she last received a bonus for the fiscal year 2021-22, and that she had not yet received performance pay for the fiscal year 2022-23, information that's also available on the CBC website.
Tait's salary range is between $468,900 and $551,600, with the government setting her bonus between seven per cent to 28 per cent of her salary, if she meets certain criteria.
Opposition Conservatives want Tait to return to the parliamentary hot seat and provide answers around bonuses.
The CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors recently approved over $18.4 million in bonuses for nearly 1,200 employees, managers and executives for the 2023-24 fiscal year after it eliminated hundreds of jobs.
The Privy Council Office wouldn't say if the board had recommended a bonus for Tait, or if the federal government gave a stamp of approval.
"Clearly, Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government are content to give CBC executives and their handpicked CEO huge multimillion-dollar taxpayer funded bonuses amid dwindling viewership and increasing irrelevancy so long as they remain good servants to their masters and continue to act as the propaganda arm of the Liberal party," said Heritage critic Rachael Thomas in a statement on Wednesday.
CBC's editorial independence from government is enshrined in law.
Twice in the last year Tait has been called twice to the heritage committee to answer for cuts at CBC/Radio-Canada, and was interrogated by MPs over whether she would accept a bonus for the fiscal year that ended March 31.
The New Democrats didn't say if they want Tait to return to the Canadian Heritage committee, but accused Liberals of failing to protect jobs at the public broadcaster and "rein in the greed from CBC executives."
They also swiped at the Conservatives, saying that while the Tories want to defund CBC, the NDP would improve it.
"Our public broadcaster provides an invaluable service to Canadians. They’re also accountable to Canadians," said NDP heritage critic Niki Ashton in a statement.
"Therefore, it’s time to ban the CBC from paying executive bonuses and use that money to save local journalism."
In June, the broadcaster's board publicly acknowledged the negative optics of giving out bonuses during the same fiscal year that it made cuts, and has since launched a review of its compensation regime for future years.
Between December 2023 and March 31, when the last fiscal year ended, CBC/Radio-Canada eliminated 346 jobs from the organization by laying off 141 employees and eliminating 205 vacant positions.
Tait has twice been called before the heritage committee to answer for cuts, and was interrogated by MPs over whether she would accept a bonus for the fiscal year that ended March 31.
Members of the committee unanimously concluded in a report to the House of Commons earlier this year that given the job cuts, it would be inappropriate for CBC to grant bonuses to executive members.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2024.
Comments
I've been listening to the CBC since 1948 when my American family built a modest summer cottage on the St. Lawrence river, My mother, a fanatical listener to radio, preferably of the non-profit sort in the days that preceded NPR, thought she'd died and gone to heaven when she discovered CBC radio. We were hooked.
It has been painful listening to Canadians wrangling over, and bad mouthing the CBC for all these years. They should be cursed with the kind of radio junk one gets in the U.S.
For all those PC diatribes against the CBC and threats to close it down - once in power they didn't. Maybe it finally dawned on them that the CBC is the most reliable nationwide broadcaster, even as they keep chipping away at its ability to do the job. Critics should be proud of the CBC's early adoption of digital media and its continual striving for excellence, despite all the road blocks governments throw at it. Real journalism is in imminent danger of death by a thousand cuts . Without it we are sitting ducks for the con artists, fraudsters, social media trolls and greedy media moguls who have so far distinguished themselves by permitting and promoting the stupidity and criminal malfeasance that passes for "communication and news (mis)information."
Agreed, 100%.
To call it a "propaganda arm" implies that the entire concept of "Canada," period, is just propaganda, but THAT concept also seems to be what this horrible new iteration of the political right wing wants to eradicate.
That's because the fact that the Liberals are considered the natural governing party of this country drives them crazy (like most facts it seems) and since the panoramic, inclusive and ultimately progressive philosophy of the CBC reflects that overall Canadian identity, both historically and currently, they want to destroy it. Shoot the messenger i.e.
The former Progressive Conservatives were NOT like that, and that difference really should be pointed out FAR more often than it is because THEIR party and its identity have already been successfully hijacked by this truly hostile entity. And chillingly, it's an entity that actually has another even more fundamental concept in its sights--democracy itself.
As a small country next to a huge one, we've always worried about our identity and culture being subsumed by the sprawling Americans, but somehow we've thought our politics are immune because of our different system. But the internet has blurred all the lines, including political ones and opened up surprisingly destructive floodgates.
Having the example of just how bad this new version of the right wing can BE as their "slow-moving coup" picks up speed and unfolds before us in technicolor in real time is the ultimate test of who we are and how we are different from the States.
One tool we have that they don't IS the cross-country CBC; a lot of people have faith in it as our anchor and guide, and as Marshall McLuhan said, the medium is the message.