CBC/Radio-Canada board approves bonuses for 2023-24, but will review performance pay

The board of directors for CBC and Radio-Canada has approved bonuses for some staff for work they did in the most recent fiscal year, despite members of Parliament saying it would be inappropriate to do so after hundreds of jobs were eliminated.

The decision was posted on the public broadcaster’s website last month following a meeting of the board of directors.

CBC would not disclose how much money was paid out to the 1,194 eligible employees for the 2023-24 fiscal year, with spokesman Leon Mar saying in a statement that the information is part of “internal financial operations.”

The public broadcaster has said the money is performance pay and counts toward some employees’ total compensation, as stipulated by contracts that promise payouts when certain company goals are met.

Nonetheless, its board acknowledged the optics of giving bonuses for the same fiscal year that saw 141 employees laid off and 205 vacant positions eliminated.

“The board and the senior executive team acknowledge the views expressed by some that performance pay should not be awarded at CBC/Radio-Canada in times of financial pressures and associated work force reductions,” the board said in a letter dated June 25.

As a result, the board said it would launch a review of its compensation regime, including performance pay, for future years.

“This review will be conducted by a third-party human resources consulting firm, and recommendations to the board will be shared with the public,” the board said.

In the wake of the public broadcaster’s layoff announcement, CEO Catherine Tait faced questions at two parliamentary committee hearings on whether bonuses would roll out for the year that ended on March 31.

CBC said in December it was set to cut 600 jobs, eliminate 200 vacancies and cut $40 million in production costs to deal with a projected $125-million shortfall at that time.

Tait was summoned to the House of Commons heritage committee to answer for the cuts, and interrogated over whether she would accept a bonus for the fiscal year ending March 31.

Mar, the CBC spokesman, said Tait herself doesn’t receive bonuses through the program. Instead, her performance pay is determined by the federal government, “following a performance review and recommendation” by the CBC board of directors.

He said Tait hasn’t yet “received performance pay for the fiscal year 2022-23 and has no idea of the amount. It is the same situation for 2023-24.”

MPs on the committee concluded in a report to the House that given the job cuts, it would be inappropriate for CBC to grant bonuses to executive members.

The public broadcaster has said its financial situation is looking better because of the recent layoffs, cuts to operational costs and an extra $42-million injection in this year’s federal budget.

Tait told the heritage committee in May that the estimated $125-million shortfall for 2024-25 had shrunk to $20 million.

Conservative critic Rachael Thomas said Tait “continues to find ways to give out big taxpayer-funded bonuses to staff, executives and herself,” for what she called a “reliable propaganda arm of the Liberal party.”

She said in a Monday statement that the CEO has “awarded millions of bonuses to executives while they made cuts to radio and television and slashed jobs amid failing viewership and growing irrelevancy to Canadian audiences.”

The CBC’s editorial independence from government is enshrined in law.

CBC has released information about bonuses in previous years under access-to-information law, including in 2022-23, when $14.9 million was paid out to eligible employees.