The CBC doesn’t mind taking your money.
It just doesn’t want you to know how it spends your money.
CBC President Catherine Tait was called to committee on Parliament Hill – again – because of bonuses handed out under her watch.
Tait repeatedly refused to say if she’ll take severance or bonus payouts when she leaves the CBC in the new year.
“Will you share with this committee whether or not you will refuse a severance package or bonus at the conclusion of your term of president and CEO of the CBC?” asked MP Damien Kurek.
“I consider that to be a personal matter,” Tait responded.
Here’s the thing: when your salary, bonus and possible severance are paid for by the taxpayer, these are not personal matters.
Kurek also asked Michael Goldbloom, the Chairman of the CBC’s Board of Directors, if he would make public what recommendations the board made to the government regarding Tait’s bonuses.
“Our communications with the government around the [bonus] recommendations with the CEO, my understanding is that is governed by privacy,” Goldbloom said.
Tait’s salary is between $468,900 and $551,600 per year. For context, the prime minister’s salary is $406,200.
Crown corporation CEOs at Tait’s level can also receive a bonus of up to 28%.
But taxpayers are not allowed to know exactly how much she’s paid.
Concealing information from taxpayers is nothing new at the CBC. The state broadcaster continues to stonewall the release of bonus figures for its seven senior executives.
The CBC revealed to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation that those seven senior executives took home almost $3.8 million in total compensation in 2023 – an average of more than $540,000 apiece.
But the CBC is refusing to say how much it pays executives in bonuses each year. As a result, the CTF launched a legal challenge to force the CBC to come clean with taxpayers as a matter of principle.
It’s taxpayers’ money, so taxpayers deserve to know how much they’re paying for senior executive bonuses.
And taxpayers are paying an arm and a leg for the CBC.
The CBC is dishing out $18.4 million in bonuses to 1,194 non-union staff this year. That includes $3.3 million in bonuses for 45 executives, for an average of $73,000 each – more than the average salary for Canadian workers, according to Statistics Canada.
The CBC’s bonuses have cost taxpayers $132 million since 2015.
There are 1,450 CBC staffers taking home six-figure salaries. Since 2015, the number of CBC employees taking a six-figure annual salary has spiked by 231%.
All told, the CBC will cost taxpayers $1.4 billion this year. What could Canadians do with that money instead of propping up a state broadcaster?
That money could pay the salaries of about 7,000 cops and 7,000 paramedics. Or it could buy 2,400 homes in Calgary, or cover groceries for about 85,000 Canadian families for a year.
Tait’s committee appearance gets a failing grade from taxpayers on transparency. Tait taking a taxpayer-funded bonus or severance payout, on top of her six-figure, taxpayer-funded salary, is the furthest thing in the world from a “personal matter,” as Tait claimed.
That’s taxpayers’ money, so taxpayers have every right to know.
Taxpayers may not know what Tait’s bonus is, but there is one thing taxpayers do know for sure: politicians shouldn’t be handing Tait a bucket of cash on her way out the door.
— Franco Terrazzano is the Federal Director and Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.