The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) gave 1033 managers a bonus in 2023 totalling $14.9 million, despite their president claiming the state-broadcaster receives “chronic underfunding.”
According to access-to-information records reported by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), the CBC distributed $14.9 million in employee bonuses in 2023, while laying off hundreds of staff members in December due to budget cuts.
A total of 1143 CBC employees received a bonus for 2023, costing taxpayers $14,902,755.
This discovery comes a few weeks after CBC’s president, Catherine Tait, told a parliamentary committee that the media company receives “chronic underfunding.”
The CTF also reported that the amount of CBC staff members obtaining a 6 figure salary has increased by 231% since Justin Trudeau became Canada’s Prime Minister in 2015.
CBC will also receive $1.4 billion in funding between 2024-25 from taxpayer money.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre responded to the development by calling to defund the CBC.
“After crying broke when it laid off 600 staff last year, CBC gleefully handed out $15 million in bonuses to over 1,000 managers & executives in 2023. All while fewer Canadians are watching the CBC than ever before! Defund the CBC,” he said on Tuesday through X.
Tait exposed after playing dumb
Just three months ago in December, after news broke that CBC president Tait fired 600 employees, she refused to rule out awarding herself a substantial bonus.
“I’m going to presume, no bonuses this year?” a CBC anchor asked Tait. “I mean, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said a freedom of information request showed $16 million were paid in bonuses in 2022 — can we establish that that is not happening this year?”
Tate responded: “It’s too early to say where we are for this year, we’ll be looking at that like we do all our line items in the coming months.”
“I’m not going to comment on something that hasn’t been discussed at this point,” she added.
Trudeau Liberals support Tait’s bonus
Days later, the Trudeau liberals voted against a motion proposed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, that called to block the state-broadcaster from dishing out bonuses in light of the mass layoffs.
Taits annual pay is roughly half a million, according to the CBC’s Senior Management Compensation Summary.
