The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation paid out $18.4 million in bonuses this year after hundreds of jobs at the public broadcaster were cut.
Documents obtained through access to information laws show that CBC/Radio-Canada paid bonuses to 1,194 employees for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
More than $3.3 million of that money went to 45 executives. That means those executives received an average bonus of more than $73,000, which is higher than the median family income after taxes in 2022, according to Statistics Canada.
More than $10.4 million was paid to 631 managers and more than $4.6 million was paid to 518 other employees.
This year’s amount represents an increase from the $14.9 million paid to 1,143 employees in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
In the end, 141 employees were laid off and 205 vacant positions were eliminated at CBC/Radio-Canada.
The board approved this year’s bonuses in June, but declined to disclose the amount paid.
MPs have been demanding the amount since last December, when CBC announced it would lay off employees to help balance its budget.
Performance-based pay
The public broadcaster said the money is performance-based pay and counts toward some employees’ total compensation, as stipulated in contracts that promise payments when certain company targets are met.
Government departments, Crown corporations and most private companies use performance pay, also known as “at-risk pay,” as a portion of non-union employees’ compensation to help ensure specific targets are met, a CBC spokesperson said in a statement Monday.
“While the term ‘bonuses’ has been used to describe performance-based pay, it is actually a contractual obligation to eligible employees,” spokesman Leon Mar said.
In May, CEO Catherine Tait said she was “very frustrated” that MPs were referring to the payments as “bonuses”.
However, the broadcaster’s board has publicly acknowledged the negative impact of awarding bonuses in the same financial year it made the cuts, and has since launched a review of its compensation package for the coming years.
Mme Tait has been called before the House of Commons heritage committee twice in the past year to answer questions about cuts to CBC/Radio-Canada, and has been questioned by MPs about whether she would accept a bonus for the fiscal year that ended March 31.
It is still unclear whether Mme Tait was among those who received a bonus.
It is up to the Liberal government, not the board of directors, to approve any bonus for the CEO, unlike other CBC employees. Canadian Heritage did not immediately respond to questions about the matter Monday.
“Frankly disgusting” bonuses
The Conservatives called the bonuses “beyond insulting and frankly sickening,” adding that they come at a time when many Canadians are starving and facing homelessness.
“It is the height of arrogance that the CBC has awarded itself $18 million in bonuses from the $1.4 billion per year it receives from taxpayers to serve as the Liberal Party’s mouthpiece,” Conservative MP and opposition heritage critic Rachael Thomas said in a statement.
Thomas said the CBC is “not worth the money,” while repeating the Conservative promise to defund the public broadcaster and pledging to “transform CBC headquarters into beautiful homes for Canadian families.”
The CBC’s editorial independence from government is enshrined in law.
Heritage committee members unanimously concluded in a report to the House earlier this year that given the job cuts, it would be inappropriate for the CBC to award bonuses to senior management.
The public broadcaster said its financial position was improving due to recent layoffs, operational cost cuts and an extra $42 million injection from this year’s federal budget.
Mme Tait told the heritage committee in May that the estimated $125 million deficit for 2024-25 had narrowed to $20 million.