CBC’s finances improving, no more job cuts needed, Tait tells heritage committee

CBC/Radio-Canada has significantly reduced its financial shortfall and will not be cutting any more jobs to balance its budget this year, the public broadcaster’s president and CEO Catherine Tait announced during her appearance in front of the Canadian Heritage committee on Tuesday. Tait appeared in front of the House committee on Tuesday to answer questions from MPs regarding the CBC’s December announcement that it will be cutting approximately 800 positions, despite increased government funding. After what the she described as “significant cuts to operational costs,” the elimination of 141 workers and 205 vacant positions, as well as $42 million in additional funding from the 2024 federal budget, the CBC’s “financial outlook has improved” and no more cuts will be necessary, said Tait. “But to be clear, we are not out of the woods,” she warned. The CEO pointed to the challenges many Canadian media organizations are currently facing in a broadcasting environment she characterized as “a digital world ruled by global players who simply do not share the same commitment to our country's interests.” Despite the improved forecast for the CBC, MPs continued to take aim at the provision of bonuses for the company’s top executives and other non-unionized employees. Tait maintained that the CBC does not pay bonuses. “It has been a point of great frustration that some members of this committee refer to performance pay as a bonus,” she stated. Performance pay is not extra compensation, she explained, but an agreed upon portion of an employee’s salary that is withheld until the end of the fiscal year, the payment of which is determined based on the individual’s and company’s performance. “In the current environment, pretty well all federal agencies, departments, Crown corporations, and certainly the private sector, use this performance pay as a way to incentivize and retain talent,” said Tait. She highlighted its effectiveness in competing in the job market. Performance pay for the 2022-2023 fiscal year was paid out in July 2023, well before the layoff announcement five months later. According to Tait, the CBC’s board of directors has not yet decided on performance pay for the 2023-2024 year, which ended this March. That will be decided during the board’s meeting next month. “Rather than over-indexing on performance pay, I would urge this committee to think about what are the solutions for the future of domestic media in this country? Not just public – public, private, news, entertainment, because we are in crisis,” said Tait. “I've been in this business 40 years and never before have I seen so pressure on our domestic industry and it is very worrisome… It’s terrible to lose one individual employee, let alone 140.” Opposition MPs took aim at the amount of government funding going towards the CBC, with Conservative Rachael Thomas noting that in addition to the $42 million allocated in the budget, the government’s main estimates show the public broadcaster will be receiving an additional $96 million. Tait explained that the funding in the main estimates is not incremental, it is funding “which all government departments and receive” every two to three years and goes towards salary increases related to inflation. “What we have received is $42 million” in additional funding, she asserted. Those funds will help ensure no further job cuts will be needed and will support reinvestment in the independent production sector. Bloc Québécois MPs continued their scrutiny of the CBC’s considerations to integrate parts of its English and French operations. Heritage critic Martin Champoux accused Tait of trying to bolster CBC’s operations to the detriment of Radio-Canada, concerns he raised earlier in the day during question period. “Now, she is talking about bringing the programming and management of the CBC and Radio-Canada closer together because she wants to use Radio-Canada as a shield against possible Conservative cuts,” he said in French during question period. “They always look after the best interest of the CBC, not Radio-Canada.” Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge replied that CBC will never be connected to French content. “On this side of the House, we will defend the public broadcaster, whether in Quebec or elsewhere in Canada, because we know that it is important, particularly at a time when many media outlets are making cuts and we are losing journalists,” she stated. “The CBC is an essential service across Canada, and so is Radio-Canada.” Champoux fired back. “The only immediate threat to Radio‑Canada is not the Conservatives being elected, it is the president of CBC/Radio‑Canada, Catherine Tait, being appointed and given an extension by the Liberals,” he said, accusing her of being prepared to sacrifice the French sector’s independence “to protect against a potential government.” During her committee appearance, Tait explained that the company is waiting to see the results of the next election before considering how it might deal with the Conservatives’ challenges. Right now it is prioritizing its competition with foreign digital giants. “We’re far from the possibility of defunding the CBC,” she said in French. “We want to work on changing our services, working on our strategy to ensure the viability of our services.” The CEO assured MPs that there will be no alignment between English and French programming. “We're talking about aligning services and technology platforms but we're not talking about content, there’s no merger of content,” said Tait. Marco Dubé, CBC/Radio-Canada’s chief transformation officer and executive VP of people and culture, explained that the two services have always shared resources in certain areas over their almost 90 year history and are looking at how that can be improved. “It's too early for us to tell you what the board will be looking at in the fall. The plan is not finalized,” he said in French. “The substance will be how we organize our resources to continue the digital transition where traditional media is declining. People are turning towards digital giants and we want to be relevant as public broadcasters.” Tait made the case for why the broadcaster's relevance is essential in her opening remarks. “The more time Canadians spend on foreign platforms, the less they are finding about their own country. About the challenges we share, the things we have in common,” she said. “That mutual understanding is the glue that keeps societies together. We believe the role for the public broadcaster is to connect Canadians to ensure they know what's going on in their communities and across the country.” – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca with files from Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

CBC’s finances improving, no more job cuts needed, Tait tells heritage committee

Broadcast | May 8, 2024

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CBC’s finances improving, no more job cuts needed, Tait tells heritage committee

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