The Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Kris Sims, called for a complete halt of taxpayer funds to the CBC/Radio-Canada, noting that the news organization is remarkably unpopular and creates conflicts of interests for journalists.
Ms. Sims told committee members on Monday that all taxpayer funds to the broadcaster should be cut off.
“One, taxpayers should not be paying for that, and two, journalists should not be paid by the government,” Sims said.
During her testimony, Sims cited CBC’s own latest quarterly report, indicating that CBC News Network’s audience share is only 1.7%, meaning that 98.3% of Canadians are choosing not to watch the state-broadcaster.
Sims didn’t call for the complete termination of the CBC, though, highlighting that the network does generate $400 to $500 million in revenue through things like advertising.
“That’s nothing to sneeze at, that’s a lot of money,” she said.
The CBC has particularly come under fire over the past 12 months, after it was revealed 1033 of the broadcasters’ managers received a bonus in 2023, totalling $14.9 million, despite their president claiming the state-broadcaster 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 receives $1.4 billion in funding annually from taxpayer money. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has called the network Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s personal PR team.
A recent poll indicates that 4 in 10 Canadians believe the CBC is state propaganda from the Trudeau Liberals.
