Liberals refuse to say whether they signed off on bonus for CBC CEO

The Canadian Press / Spencer Colby

The Justin Trudeau Liberals will not confirm whether they approved a bonus for the head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp, despite opposition parties seeking clarity on the issue.

The approval of Catherine Tait's bonus by the federal government would typically follow a review of her performance and a recommendation from the CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors.

CBC directed questions to the Liberal government, which then referred them to the Privy Council Office (PCO). The PCO, citing privacy laws, declined to provide details, reports the Canadian Press.

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Tait previously mentioned in May that she had received a bonus for the 2021-2022 fiscal year but had not received performance pay for 2022-2023. Tait, whose salary sits between $468,000 and $551,600, also receives bonuses ranging from seven to 28 percent of her salary if she meets specific goals.

The Conservatives have demanded that Tait return to Parliament to provide more detail for such bonuses.

Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre says he'll cut the CBC's budget since "they waste an enormous amount of money."

"Governments should only do what the market cannot do."

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"Clearly, Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government are content to give CBC executives and their handpicked CEO huge multimillion-dollar taxpayer-funded bonuses amid dwindling viewership and increasing irrelevancy so long as they remain good servants to their masters and continue to act as the propaganda arm of the Liberal Party," said Heritage critic Rachael Thomas in a statement on Wednesday.

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CBC/Radio-Canada's board recently approved over $18.4 million in bonuses for nearly 1,200 employees and executives for the 2023-24 fiscal year, despite cutting hundreds of jobs.