CBC head says team doesn’t get ‘so-called bonuses,’ but ‘incentive pay’

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation president and CEO Catherine Tait told the House of Commons heritage committee she and the CBC executive team does not get “so-called bonuses” but isn’t ruling out “incentive pay” as the Crown corporation plans layoffs.

The question of bonuses for executives and senior staff at the public broadcaster have been under scrutiny since the CBC announced plans to cut about 10 per cent of its work force this year.

The same committee last year said it would be “inappropriate for the CBC to grant bonuses to executive members” while planning the layoffs.

Tait said that what are commonly called bonuses are “at-risk incentive pay” based on performance and meeting key business objectives, and part of non-union compensation throughout Crown corporations and the public sector.

“It is not my decision to award performance pay. It is in fact the decision of the board of directors, and that decision comes at the end of the fiscal year. We have another two months before we reach the end of the fiscal year,” Tait told the committee Tuesday evening.

“As I have also said in public everything is on the table. So, we will see at the end of the fiscal year, based on results where we are financially.”

In December, the public broadcaster announced it would cut around 600 jobs and not fill approximately 200 vacancies as it contends with a $125 million budgetary shortfall.

The planned cuts include around 250 positions from both English and French-language services, with the remaining job losses taking place at the broader corporate and technical service levels.

On Wednesday Morning, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge told reporters that while the committee was focused on CBC bonuses, her main priorities for the public broadcaster are focused on addressing fiscal challenges and operations.

“What I’m thinking about is the future and the sustainability of our public broadcaster, because they are facing the same media crisis that every other media is facing. They’re seeing a reduction in their advertisement revenue,” St-Onge said.

“We need to think about the future of CBC/Radio-Canada in that new context and this is a job that I’m going to do.”

Based on a Global News analysis of Tait’s pay from the order in council announcing her appointment, her maximum bonus is $145,880 if she is at the top end of her salary range.

Tait defended this, saying the performance payment comes from money held back from her base compensation and doled out on a performance basis.

Conservative MP Rachel Thomas said that as CEO it is part of Tait’s job to recommend if employees receive this performance-based pay.

Tait replied that if business objectives are met she will recommend all eligible employees, over 1,000 positions, receive “their full pay.”

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On the broader issue of impending layoffs, Tait told the committee that if the public broadcaster’s financial situation improves then they will adjust their plans accordingly.

CBC receives about $1.3 billion in annual funding from the federal government, and Tait says about a third of their budget comes from advertising revenue, which has suffered in a depressed market.

“At $33 per Canadian, a dime a day, CBC/Radio-Canada is one of the worst funded public broadcasters in the world,” Tait said.

“Until that situation changes, we must continue to manage with what we have and do our very best to stretch limited resources to meet our mandate.”

Members of the Heritage Committee homed in on whether or not Tait and her executive colleagues accepted year-end bonuses shortly after announcing these planned cuts.

Tait wouldn’t say if she would opt out of the program herself, or reject a bonus, in light of the situation facing employees and walked away from reporters inquiring. Instead, Poulter stepped in to answer questions.

“Canadians are just looking for a signal that (you’re) willing to work with the tone of the nation,” said Liberal MP Michael Coteau during Tait’s testimony.

For the broadcaster to announce job cuts in December after paying out $15 million in bonuses last March is “hard to stomach,” Coteau said.

“What most Canadians feel is a strong support for CBC and Radio-Canada,” NDP MP Peter Julian said Tuesday.

“And the idea that we would have bonuses at a time of cuts to vital services just doesn’t make sense.”

After the cuts were announced, Tait told CBC News anchor Adrienne Arsenault that a decision on executive bonuses had not been made during an interview about the impending layoffs.

“The executive bonuses were incredibly badly placed, and we believe that what Radio-Canada and CBC need to do is do that investment at the community level,” NDP MP and committee member Peter Julien said prior to the hearing.

Before the holiday recess, members of the heritage committee voted unanimously to call the CBC CEO and other executives to testify on these job cuts at their first meeting of 2024.

With files from Global News’ Nathanial Dove and The Canadian Press.