CBC’s $300K club has four members: document

OTTAWA • Four employees involved in CBC broadcasts earn more than $300,000 a year, taking home on average about $485,667 annually in total compensation. But the public broadcaster won’t identify who they are.

The numbers are contained in a document sent to a Senate committee that is studying the challenges facing the CBC. The document includes the salary ranges and total compensation ranges for upper management, as well as how much those executives could earn in the private sector.

Those four make up less than 1% of the 1,286 on-air personnel at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio-Canada, as of April 1. About 83% of on-air talent at Canada’s public broadcaster earn less than $100,000, not including overtime.

Before senators on the committee saw the documents, the CBC posted the information to its website. The website says compensation, which is beyond what unions have negotiated, is based on multiple issues, and is “the middle range” of what is offered by “comparable Canadian companies” and “a selection of Crown corporations.”

The documents do not attach names to earnings despite the fact the Senate committee is keen for this information. It’s believed that CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge is in the top salary range, but he has declined to provide his salary when asked.

“The purpose of this document is to explain our compensation regime that is tied to the positions and to the number of people in those positions rather than the identity of the individuals per se,” said a CBC spokeswoman, France Belisle.

“This level of disclosure goes further than what is currently available from any other federal Crown corporation or national Canadian broadcaster. It also strives to strike a balance between accountability to taxpayers, and maintaining the privacy employees are afforded under the [Privacy] Act.”

The new details are more than the taxpayer-funded cor- poration has shared previously with the Senate’s transport and communications committee, which has considered forcing the public broadcaster to hand over information. During its hearings, the committee has locked horns with CBC executives over releasing more information.

In April, the CBC provided a list of salary ranges under its collective agreement that senators felt was incomplete and misleading.

The committee has spent months looking at the programming the broadcaster offers, and where; the CBC’s television advertising policy; and spending on staff. The Senate committee is to make recommendations for the broadcaster and government in a changing media environment.

“What we’re trying to find out as a parliamentary committee is exactly how the CBC is using taxpayers’ money,” said Senator Leo Housakos, the committee’s deputy chairman. “We’re doing our work in a diligent fashion.”

Since the committee started its hearings, the CBC has announced it is eliminating 657 jobs, given the loss of revenue from losing broadcast rights to NHL games.

The broadcaster has also seen a reduction of $115-million in federal funding over the past three years.

CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix has appeared before the committee once, but is likely to have to appear again. Remi Recine, chairman of the board at CBC, is also expected to be called to testify.