Ottawa is considering coming to the aid of CBC / Radio-Canada as the public broadcaster plans major cuts, including the elimination of 10% of its workforce, in order to make up for a budget deficit of $125 million.
“In past years, we put money into CBC / Radio-Canada to fill the structural deficit. So there is also a budgetary decision that will come,” declared the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, upon her arrival at the Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa.
Ms. St-Onge also mentioned that “a decision is pending” as to whether and to what extent the Crown corporation will be affected by the 3% savings that Ottawa announced in its last budget it wanted to find in the ministries and organizations.
“When we are ready to say what will happen on the CBC / Radio-Canada side, we will do it,” the minister simply mentioned.
Before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, the president and CEO of the public broadcaster, Catherine Tait, refused to rule out bonuses being paid to executives for the current year.
In an email to The Canadian Press, CBC / Radio-Canada indicated that the 3% reduction in spending represents $38 million over three years.
The Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP) believe that the public broadcaster must be exempt from the 3% cuts.
The Conservatives have avoided commenting on the issue, but promise to abolish public funding of the English network and transform its Toronto headquarters into housing if they are brought to power.
And while decisions are to be made, the Liberal government reiterates that it wishes to redefine the mandate of CBC / Radio-Canada before the next election in order to protect the public broadcaster against a possible change of government in Ottawa.
Again on Wednesday, Minister St-Onge insisted on the “annual structural deficit” incurred by the public broadcaster, in particular due to the drop in advertising revenue. “So I am looking to the future to ensure sustainability,” she said.
CBC / Radio-Canada announced in early December the elimination of 600 jobs and the elimination of 200 vacant positions. The state-owned company estimates that this will save $60 million. The rest of the deficit would be absorbed by cuts of 25 million in discretionary spending and 40 million in independent productions.
At the federal government, sources indicated that the cuts were “premature”, even “a little ridiculous”. They suggested that CBC / Radio-Canada has “no indication” that its budget would be cut.
As a Crown corporation, CBC/Radio-Canada operates independently of Parliament. The broadcaster receives about $1 billion in federal funding each year.