CBC funding gets boost, despite fears leading to job cuts
Executives had insisted budget cuts led to layoffs
• Canada's public broadcaster is getting an increase in funding, despite executives insisting that a request to cut CBC/ Radio-Canada's budget for the next fiscal year was one reason they announced layoffs for 10 per cent of staff.
Documents Canadian Heritage released on Thursday show CBC will get a $1.4-billion budget in 202425, an increase from the $1.3 billion it spent in the previous fiscal year.
It's about a $90-million increase, documents say.
The broadcaster announced in December it would cut 800 jobs and $40 million from its production budget because of a $125-million projected shortfall for the coming fiscal year, which begins on April 1. A CBC spokesperson previously said that about $11 million of that shortfall would come as a result of an expected 3.3 per cent budget cut.
On top of the new government funding, CBC is expected to get $7 million from Google, following the company's deal with Ottawa to support news organizations and avoid regulation under the Online News Act.
Executives insisted earlier this year that the job cuts were coming in part because the government asked them to cut 3.3 per cent from their budget.
CEO Catherine Tait and Shaun Poulter, executive director of strategy, public affairs and government relations, said in January they were expected to plan for that cut. “We were told to budget a 3.3 per cent cut, and that's what we've done,” Poulter said after a parliamentary committee hearing in January.
But the Treasury Board, which oversees spending in the federal budget, said there was no such directive.
Instead, departments, agencies and Crown corporations were asked to report on how such a cut could affect them. This, Canadian Heritage said, was only an “exercise” handed out across the board — and not an indication of where cuts would actually be made.
The public broadcaster said last month that about 100 positions had already been cut, including about 50 on the CBC side, 40 at Radio-Canada and 10 corporate jobs.
Tait has faced pressure from MPs over her decision not to rule out bonuses for executives — or for herself — despite the looming cuts.
That includes Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, who has called for Tait to be “shown the door.”