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Just months after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced it would be cutting 800 jobs, access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show the Crown corp handed out $14.9 million in bonuses in 2023.
Since 2015, CBC has issued $114 million in bonuses, according to the federation.
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“CBC President Catherine Tait is wrong to hand out bonuses while announcing hundreds of job losses and begging the government for more taxpayer cash,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano.
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“Tait won’t do the right thing, so Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge needs to step in and shut down these bonuses.”
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The records show that of CBC’s 7,477 employees, 1,143 CBC staffers took home a bonus in 2023, totalling $14,902,755.
The bonus figure is only current to Oct. 26, 2023, meaning the final tally for the year might be higher.
Tait, who earns $497,000 per year, told the House of Commons heritage committee in January that the public broadcaster faces “chronic underfunding” and had to “stretch limited resources to meet our mandate.”
Tait was called to testify on executive bonuses and planned layoffs at the public broadcaster. Shortly after her testimony, access-to-information records showed that between Nov. 1, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2023, Tait billed for $119,309 in expenses, most of which was to attend international conferences and meetings.
Tait added that bonus pay is “a key part of the total compensation of our non-union staff, about 1,140 employees.”
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A second document obtained by CTF shows that for the 2023-24 fiscal year, 6,575 employees have received raises totalling $11.5 million, while 1,450 CBC staffers earn six-figures.
Previous access-to-information records obtained by CTF show the number of CBC employees earning a six-figure annual salary has spiked by 231 per cent since Justin Trudeau came to power in 2015.
After Tait’s testimony, the Department of Canadian Heritage announced CBC’s budget for 2024-25 would increase by $96 million, to a total of $1.4 billion.
The $96.1 million increase was attributed mostly to salary increases following the ratification of collective agreements.
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