CBC PAID $30M IN BONUSES IN PANDEMIC

Over the course of the pandemic, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation paid out more than $30 million in bonuses, according to access to information documents.

The documents, first obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, show that in 2020 — Canada’s first COVID-19 case came in late January that year — the public broadcaster spent $15 million on bonuses to employees. In 2020, there were 1,034 full-time employees who received bonuses. On average, that’s about $14,500 per employee. Then, in 2021, with the pandemic in full swing, $15.3 million was paid out. There were 1,033 full-time employees who received bonuses. That’s an average of about $14,800 per employee. However, the document does not specify how much each individual received.

CBC’S annual budget is roughly $1.3 billion.

Leon Mar, a spokesman with CBC, said the bonuses were part of the corporation’s broader business plan, meant to “focus collective and individual efforts on achieving the Corporation’s objective.”

According to the CBC’S website, bonuses are part of an employee retention strategy. The payments, Mar said, are, on average, consistent with prior years.

“Despite the many challenges brought on by the pandemic, our employees have been able to find creative solutions to continue producing our content and maintain the quality of our programming,” he said in an emailed response to questions from the National Post.

The bonuses were paid out at a time when businesses, including the media industry, faced major disruptions because of the pandemic, with staff working from home and advertising revenue plummeting.

For the CBC, a quarterly report said just 20 per cent of staff were working in offices, with the rest were working from home. The report said the corporation expected the pandemic pressures to last into 2022.

In March 2020, the broadcaster cut local newscasts, which sparked a backlash.

“As Canadians turn to us for the latest developments during these unprecedented times, we are temporarily pooling our resources into one core news offering to ensure the very best of our local and national journalism,” Susan Marjetti, CBC’S general manager of news, current affairs and local, said at the time.

Broadly speaking, CBC’S finances remained steady, according to financial reports, even though there were declines in revenue, particularly from television advertising, across the pandemic.

Yearly revenue was roughly $504 million in both 20192020 and 2020-2021. In that same period, government funding increased by $185 million.

Franco Terrazzano with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said it’s unjustified to pay bonuses during the pandemic.

“It’s completely unfair to be handing out bonuses while so many taxpayers struggled through the pandemic with pay cuts, job losses and even business losses.”