CBC boss says no need to cut 800 jobs, rules out merger with Radio-Canada

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CBC chief Catherine Tait says the public broadcaster will not press ahead with the 800 job cuts it warned of last year because its financial outlook has improved after the federal budget provided an additional $42 million in funding.

He also wouldn’t rule out granting executive bonuses this year, a decision he said would be made at a board meeting next month.

Speaking before the House of Commons heritage committee, the CEO and president of CBC/Radio-Canada said the public broadcaster is not yet “out of the woods” financially.

To compete with digital giants, he said, the broadcaster is considering sharing some resources between CBC and Radio-Canada, such as equipment, production and distribution. However, he said there would be no merger between CBC and Radio-Canada, including its content.

Tait sparked protests in December when, on the day the broadcaster announced 800 job cuts to address a $125 million deficit, he told his news station that it was too early to say whether executive bonuses would be cut.

Ms Tait told the committee on Tuesday that the estimated $125 million deficit has now been reduced to about $20 million for the fiscal year, in part due to the federal government’s $42 million cash injection into the budget. He said there is now no need for “significant job cuts related to balancing our books.”

He added that about 500 jobs in the corporation are naturally reduced each year as staff retire and leave the station.

Facing questions from conservatives, Tait did not rule out executive bonuses and said the decision would be made at next month’s board meeting, after reviewing financial data for the fiscal year that ended in late March.

He said performance pay was part of employees’ remuneration packages and also helped motivate CBC staff.

Tait’s bonus, unlike that of most staff, would have to be approved by the government, he said.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail in December, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said Tait “needs to be transparent” about whether he is granting the bonuses or not.

Tait told the committee that the corporation is not “tone deaf” and has heard the criticism, saying it had asked an outside compensation consultant to examine other pay-for-performance models.

He was asked about the Conservative threat to defund the CBC while protecting French services. He denied that he is thinking of saving the CBC by linking it more closely with Radio-Canada.

Marco Dubé, chief transformation officer and executive vice-president of people and culture, said combining CBC and Radio-Canada programming was not being considered, but aligning resources, such as technology, could be an option.

He said it would be too early to say what the public broadcaster’s board would look at this fall, but said there are ways the CBC and Radio-Canada could work more closely and share resources.

Tait said the CBC and other Canadian media organizations face stiff competition from digital giants like Netflix and Amazon, which face fewer regulations.

He said CBC is focusing on its digital audience, including CBC Gem, and said more and more Canadians are switching to watching online.

“The future is digital. “We are moving towards a completely digital world,” she said, adding that in English Canada “the shift to digital is already underway.”

In the new year, St-Onge will begin searching for a replacement for Tait, who has led CBC since 2018. Former Heritage Minister Pablo Rodríguez extended Tait’s contract earlier this year for a further 18 months. until January 2025.