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Don’t expect Catherine Tait to be reappointed to another term as president and CEO of CBC. The hapless media executive is facing another barrage of criticism after the Canadian Taxpayers Federation released more information on executive bonuses.
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Documents released to the CTF through access to information showed that 1,143 CBC executives split a bonus pot of $14.9 million, which meant an average bonus of just over $13,000 each.
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First off, why does CBC have 1,143 executives? Secondly, what on earth makes anyone think they deserve a bonus.
A bonus is supposed to be offered for good performance and hitting key performance targets. It’s hard to justify bonuses for an organization losing audience share, which is especially true for CBC English television.
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There is also the fact that Tait announced the elimination of 800 jobs, including laying off 600 workers, last December and then wouldn’t rule out bonuses for executives while being interviewed on her own network. That incident of open-mouth-insert-foot saw Tait hauled before the Commons heritage committee, where she found no supporters for her statement, not even among the Liberal MPs on the committee.
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It didn’t help that she lectured the MPs that CBC doesn’t give out bonuses.
“For the record, CBC/Radio-Canada does not award so-called bonuses. What we have, like every other Crown corporation, is at-risk or performance pay, which is a key part of the total compensation for our non-union staff,” Tait said, impressing no one.
Asked directly if she would be getting a bonus this year as she eliminates 800 jobs, Tait gave an unbelievable answer.
“It’s not my decision whether I get a bonus or not,” she said.
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Actually, as the leader of the company she could set policy or simply lead by example and state that she will not be taking a bonus this year. Instead, at the end of the fiscal year on March 31, the books will be closed and a plan will be presented to CBC’s board at their June meeting.
They should vote no.
“Tait should be taking a pay cut and ending bonuses,” Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the CTF, said on Tuesday. “It’s time for the government to end the taxpayer-funded bonuses at the CBC.”
That’s what should happen, but don’t hold your breath.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called out CBC’s bonus scheme online and used it as a call to defund the organization. In his stump speeches at rallies, like the one in Toronto over the weekend, Poilievre gets strong applause when he calls for CBC to be defunded and jokes about turning their Ottawa headquarters into homes Canadians can afford.
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News like this and the months of bizarre statements from Tait in defending this help sell Poilievre’s message and damage whatever faith Canadians have left in CBC.
Tait was originally hired to head up CBC in 2018 and granted a five-year term. She was granted an 18-month extension in July 2023 with a salary ranging between $422,600 and $497,100. After these past few months, she won’t be renewed again and at that point the government, whoever is in power, would be wise to find someone to clean it up.
Enough with the bonuses while laying off workers, enough with the top-heavy management structure and enough with the wasteful spending.
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