CBC/Radio-Canada will discontinue controversial performance pay bonuses for executives and employees, opting instead to increase their base salaries.

"The Board of Directors, with the advice and concurrence of the President and CEO, has decided to discontinue individual performance pay as part of the overall compensation earned by eligible employees of CBC/Radio-Canada," reads the unattributed statement.

"In order to keep overall compensation at the current median level, salaries of those affected will be adjusted to reflect the elimination of individual performance pay."

An Inquiry of ministry earlier tabled in the Commons says the corporation has an "at-risk incentive pay system" and "does not pay bonuses."

The CBC annually awards performance bonuses to executives and over 1,000 non-unionized employees. Since 2015, it has distributed $132 million in bonuses, with an additional $18.4 million planned for 2024.

A CBC spokesperson would not confirm if base salaries for previously bonus-eligible employees would rise by the same amount as their lost performance pay.

An FRPC analysis revealed past inconsistencies in CBC reporting, hindering performance tracking and parliamentary support assessment. The broadcaster is estimated to have cost taxpayers $80 billion since 1937. 

An email to the National Post said CBC salaries would be "adjusted" to remain at the 50th percentile compared to peer media, private, and public sector organizations.

"CBC/Radio-Canada will continue to set individual and corporate objectives and measure performance," Leon Marr noted, without detailing specific measures to assess performance.

Amid financial strain and layoffs, the board reviewed future performance pay, addressing concerns about bonuses. The Poilievre Conservatives said bonuses were "beyond insulting" and indicative of "smugness" amid rising affordability concerns.

A four-page CBC memo summarizing a Mercer compensation review states the Crown corporation's compensation structure "faced scrutiny" but describes "performance pay" as a "widely adopted strategy" and "best practice" within government and Crown corporations.

The CBC's total compensation, including bonuses, is at the market midpoint. "While CBC/Radio-Canada's incentive targets are generally conservative relative to market, removing incentives altogether would position [their] compensation below market," reads the memo.

"CBC/Radio-Canada should be mindful of not falling below market if it wants to retain and recruit the expertise and talent it needs to deliver on the organization's national mandate."

The memo contended that while CBC executives are underpaid, non-unionized employee salaries are market-aligned.

In 2023, $15 million in "bonuses" were paid to 1,143 staff while hundreds were laid off. Seven senior executives received $3,793,000 in total compensation, with bonus amounts undisclosed.

When asked why the network had not disclosed senior executive bonuses, a corporate spokesperson told Rebel News that "senior executive compensation was disclosed to the requester in accordance with Access to Information and Privacy Act requirements." The Canadian Taxpayers Federation criticized the lack of transparency. 

Former CBC CEO Catherine Tait did not exclude executive bonuses or severance, despite a spokesperson stating she hasn't received a bonus in two years. Tait's potential compensation is $623,900, and vice-presidents can earn up to $686,500.

As first reported by Blacklock's, CBC chief of staff Chuck Thompson complained the media did not give them "enough time" to explain the bonuses.

Media would "only ask us for comment" after publishing facts, wrote one executive. "Disappointing," replied another.

Then-Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge declined to comment, deferring to the broadcaster, who maintains these payments are contractual obligations for meeting targets. 

Current CBC president Marie-Philippe Bouchard, who began her five-year term on January 3rd, identified compensation as an immediate priority last fall.

"I'm going to be working on making sure that we have a system that's transparent and that people can trust in our administration and management of public funds, especially in the context of compensation," Bouchard told MPs in November.

"I'm not tone deaf," she added.

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