CBC president Catherine Tait wouldn’t rule out giving herself and her bigwig colleagues fat juicy bonuses this year, on the same day she announced she would be laying off 600 staff due to budget constraints.
Tait’s jaw-dropping refusal to say she wouldn’t be giving herself a bonus came during an interview with the CBC itself.
“I’m going to presume, no bonuses this year,” said CBC anchor Adrienne Arsenault, “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?”
Tait 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.
The CBC anchor appeared dumbfounded by Tait’s response, presumably because Christmas is just three weeks away, and bonuses should be known at this point.
Earlier in the day, the CBC announced they would not only lay off 600 employees, but further said they wouldn’t be filling a “gap” of 200 employees, citing a lack of funding from advertisers and the fact that Canadians are tuning them out.
10% of the CBC workforce will be laid off, meaning the massive state broadcaster, with its $1.3 billion budget, will shrink from a workforce of approximately 6,000 to 5,400.
CBC blames lack of advertising revenue, superior competition for layoffs
In a statement, the CBC laid blame for the upcoming layoffs on “rising production costs, declining television advertising revenue and fierce competition from the digital giants.”
Catherine Tait, who has sparred with federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in recent months, said, “We understand how concerning this is to the people affected and to the Canadians who depend on our programs and services.”
She added, “We will have more details in the months ahead, but we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact of these measures.”
Tait donated to the presidential campaign of Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.
In 2020, it was revealed that Tait and her husband lived principally in Brooklyn, New York in a $5.4 million residence, though Tait was required to take a second residence in Canada to become head honcho of the CBC.
