Canadians slam CBC for paying over $18M in bonuses after hundreds of job cuts

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Canadians are shocked after an investigation found that the CBC paid over $18 million in bonuses this year after major layoffs.

Documents obtained through the Access to Information Act by The Canadian Press revealed that CBC/Radio-Canada paid out bonuses to 1,194 employees for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

CP journalist Mickey Djuric reported that more than $3.3 million of that was paid to 45 executives, meaning each executive received an average bonus of over $73,000.

The investigation also found that over $10.4 million was given to 631 managers, and over $4.6 million was paid to 518 other employees.

After the publicly funded news outlet slashed 600 hundred jobs across the country last December, questions arose about whether the company would go ahead with exec bonuses.

Earlier this year, CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait still didn’t rule out handing out these bonuses amid the job cuts.

According to CP, the board approved the bonuses in June but still refused to disclose the amount paid out.

“While the term ‘bonuses’ has been used to describe performance pay, it is in fact a contractual obligation owing to eligible employees,” CBC spokesperson Eric Wright told Daily Hive over email.

He cited an article from the news outlet in March, which clarifies that CBC/Radio-Canada does not pay “bonuses” but instead gives “performance pay” or “at-risk pay” to non-union employees.

“It is not an ‘extra,’ but a portion of their compensation that is held back until the end of the fiscal year and then determined based on individual and corporate performance against a specific set of indicators (KPIs), which are established at the start of each year,” reads the article.

Wright says the performance pay system is also used at government departments, Crown corporations, and private sector companies.

Canadians react to CBC bonuses

The news received a strong reaction from Canadians online.

Many criticized the CBC for its decision.

“That’s wild absolutely no shame,” reads one post on X.

“How do you explain paying out Bonuses while Down Sizing due to a Poor Revenue results?” added another.

An X user said that “this level of incompetence threatens a whole organization.”

This news comes amid the Conservative Party’s calls for the government to defund the CBC.

“What a waste of taxpayers $. Time to defund the CBC,” reads an X post from Conservative MP Brad Redekopp.

Ken Hardie, the Liberal MP for Fleetwood-Port Kells, thinks the CBC execs who approved the bonuses should resign.

“Politicians shouldn’t call the shots at our public broadcaster. But a mob of Conservative politicians have vowed to kill this national treasure. Stupid decisions all around,” he wrote in a post on X.

In the annual review of CBC/Radio-Canada’s performance from its board of directors shared by Wright, the team acknowledged these views that performance pay “should not be awarded… in times of financial pressures and associated workforce reductions.”

“As a result, the board of directors, on the recommendation of the president and CEO and the senior executive team, is launching a comprehensive review of the corporation’s
compensation regime, including performance pay,” reads the report.

According to the board of directors, the review will be conducted by a third-party human resources consulting firm, and recommendations will be shared publicly.

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