OTTAWA — Canadian taxpayers paid nearly $2 million to produce scores of government podcasts that few Canadians are tuning in for.
Information unearthed in government documents reveals the costs of these broadcasts produced by various government departments and agencies — some of which eat up hours of employee resources and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to create.
The data is gleaned from an access-to-information request by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and a voluminous November 2023 order paper question tabled by Conservative MP Rob Moore.
Government-produced podcasts cost taxpayers at least $1.7 million.
Among the most expensive podcasts wasEh Sayersproduced by Statistics Canada, which cost $773,217 to produce 22 episodes.
Started in Nov. 2021, the podcast had five full-time staff members, reduced to three after December 2022.
Editing software, publishing and analytics tools cost $3,427, while eating up $769,790 in payroll.
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Topics include a March 19 chat about the revitalization of the Cree language and a June 2023 episode on Canada’s population passing 40 million.
An August 2023 episode on the census kicked off with a “drag story time” reading by drag king Cyril Cinder of Molly’s Tuxedo, a children’s book on gender nonconformity.
Government documents list an “estimated” subscriber count of 229.
CCI and CHIN: In Our Words, produced by Canadian Heritage, is a forum for Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) and Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) employees to talk about collection conservation and management.
The podcast’s seven episodes between 2019 and 2021 cost $155,736 — or $22,000 per episode.
Costs include $949.50 for licences with Adobe, $2,979 for hosting services, $1,996 on microphones and recording equipment, $9.087 for “podcast training and consulting,” $4,875 for voice actors, $18,618 on translation, and $115,310 on salaries.
Healthy Canadians, a Health Canada podcast celebrating its first anniversary on Friday, cost $67,000 — including $34,513 for “podcast strategy, editorial planning and employee training,” $28,740 for “production, editing & distribution,” and $3,749 in transcription.
Canadian IP Voices, produced by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, helps businesses navigate the world of trademarks, patents, copyrights and other intellectual property issues.
Produced by seven full-time employees of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, the 39-episode, three-year-old podcast series cost $89,444 — $20,972 in “sound processing services,” $972 for hosting, and $67,500 in payroll.
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StatsCan Spokesperson Carter Mann told the Toronto Sun that Eh Sayers regularly ranks in various podcast charts and is used by post-secondary professors in their curricula.
“We continue to monitor performance metrics and adapt our strategies to ensure that the podcast reaches as many Canadians as possible,” he said. “Most episodes surpass 470 downloads within the first seven days of release, placing Eh Sayers in the top 10% of all podcasts according to The Podcast Host metrics.”
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said Canada’s bureaucracy has enough issues without spending nearly $2 million on podcasts few people listen to.
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