Heritage Committee urges changes to bonuses for CBC executives

The House of Commons Canadian Heritage committee has made a half dozen recommendations on the future of CBC/Radio-Canada in a new report, including one dealing with a controversial bonus package for senior management. CBC has been adamant in the past that the performance-based pay in question, doled out to more than 1,000 non-unionized employees, is not a bonus, and that that portion of its staff have money withheld from their salaries until certain goals are achieved. That performance pay has garnered close attention in the wake of job cuts at the broadcaster and ongoing pledges by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to defund the English-language service of the CBC should his party come into power in the next federal election. He has indicated he would leave the French-language Radio-Canada intact. “CBC/Radio-Canada, as part of its renewed mandate, ensure that the decision to grant senior executive compensation tied to performance be the result of careful consideration and not a customary practice, particularly in the context of significant cuts to services and staffing,” the first recommendation of the new report released Dec. 12 stated. CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait has in the past defended the bonuses, telling MPs during a house committee meeting that they are customary in business. She has said she has not taken a bonus herself as of yet but declined to tell MPs in recent weeks if she would garner one before her term expires next month. TV5 CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard is expected to take over from Tait. READ MORE: - Incoming CBC head non-committal on bonuses as she takes the helm, pledges to listen to Canadians - CBC head Tait grilled once again on executive pay, exit package The second proposal in the committee report is that the government should table the separate report of the special advisory committee on the future of the public broadcaster. At present, the report is being held by the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Thirdly, the Commons committee wants the crown corporation’s mandate to be amended to give it the means to achieve its objectives, taking into account technical changes and the needs of the Canadian population. The politicians did not expand in detail on this idea or how they would recommend that this be done. The MPs also recommended the government increase its funding for the CBC, allowing the broadcaster to get rid of paid subscriptions and commercial advertising. Lobby groups such as Friends of Canadian Media have called for long-term funding for the corporation as opposed to the one-year funding term which currently exists. The broadcaster gets about $1.4 billion from Parliament annually with other sources of revenues accounting for about $800 million, Tait told the committee earlier this year. Defenders of the CBC have called for it to get out of television advertising. The radio service has been ad-free for years. Defenders maintain that jettisoning ads would make the broadcaster less amenable to advertiser influence, while some of its private-sector rivals don’t want the Crown corporation to take money which they believe should be in their coffers. Finally, the Heritage committee asserted that the corporation should take concrete steps to guarantee official language minority communities and Indigenous communities access to service in their preferred languages. During testimony, some linguistic groups, especially Quebec anglophones, worried that their interests were being ignored by CBC management. Both the Conservative and New Democratic Party MPs on the committee filed dissenting opinions. The Tories called for the rejection of bonuses, firing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and defunding the CBC. NDP member Niki Ashton (Churchill Keewatinook Aski, Man.) stated that bonuses must be banned, cuts to the corporation should be opposed, and that combatting news deserts should be included in the CBC mandate, rather than being a recommendation. ppark@thewirereport.ca With files from Hannah Daley

Heritage Committee urges changes to bonuses for CBC executives

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By Paul Park
| December 17, 2024

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By Paul Park
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