CBC CEO Summoned to Testify Again at Heritage Committee on Funding Increases

Catherine Tait, president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) talks on the phone before appearing at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, on Nov. 2, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby)

The CEO of CBC has been summoned back to the Heritage Committee to testify after she was accused of misleading the committee on how much funding it is receiving from the government. Members voted 6–5 to summon Catherine Tait to appear before the committee for questioning by April 9.

“Miss Tait actually lied to the committee here. She has misled Canadians. She came in here saying, ‘I need to drop 10 percent of the CBC staff,’ over 800 jobs,” said Conservative MP Kevin Waugh.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Ms. Tait announced a round of CBC layoffs last December due to a $125 million budget shortfall. This would involve 600 positions nationwide being cut and a further 200 vacancies remaining unfilled.

On Jan. 30, Ms. Tait testified in front of the Heritage Committee that the CBC faced “chronic underfunding” and had been forced to “stretch limited resources to meet our mandate.” When she was asked whether there would be bonuses for CBC executives, Ms. Tait responded that the CBC’s board of directors decides on “performance pay” and that it was yet to be determined.

However, cabinet in the Feb. 29 budget Main Estimates confirmed it was increasing CBC funding by $96.1 million in 2024 to a record $1.38 billion. Following the announcement, CBC spokesperson Leon Mar said the funding increase would “lessen, but not eliminate” the $125 million shortfall.

Access to Information records disclosed on March 12 by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation also showed that the CBC paid at least $14.9 million in bonuses in 2023.

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“It is astounding to me how you can reduce 800 employees at CBC and still give out nearly $15 million in performance bonuses,” said Mr. Waugh. At the end of the meeting, the committee adopted a Bloc Québécois motion that Ms. Tait would “answer questions concerning the increase in funding to the public broadcaster of nearly $100 million” and the payment of $14.9 million in bonuses.

Conservative MP Rachael Thomas said that CBC’s management must have known that bonuses were set to go out and federal subsidies set to increase when Ms. Tait claimed the organization was going through hardships. “The problem is the CEO of the CBC Catherine Tait came to this committee and seemingly misled us,” she said.

Liberal MPs on the committee opposed the motion, with MP and parliamentary secretary for heritage Taleeb Noormohamed claiming they were continually seeing a “politicization of the CBC.”

“We hear from our Conservative friends day and night that they want to defund the CBC, that the CBC is somehow the government’s mouthpiece. We need to be vigilant,” Mr. Noormohamed said.