Trudeau Liberals WASTED big bucks by funding CBC, says critic

The CBC should be defunded for three reasons, says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, citing egregious executive bonuses, declining viewership, and dwindling accountability to taxpayers.

Alex Dhaliwal
  |   January 02, 2025   |   News   |   2 Comments

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has several times proposed to cut CBC subsidies, only to be stonewalled by Canadian Heritage. Meanwhile, the network renewed calls for more funding in recent months.

“Journalists should not be paid by the government because it’s an obvious conflict of interest,” said Kris Sims, Alberta Director for the Taxpayers Federation.

“You can’t hold the powerful government to account if you’re counting on that government for your paycheque.”

In a February 29, 2024 document, Main Estimates, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge raised CBC subsidies by $96.1 million. “I want to ensure the CBC is well positioned to face the coming decades in a context where media have great difficulty,” she told reporters at the time.

It follows ongoing controversy after Catherine Tait, the network CEO and president, appeared to mislead MPs about its financial woes. 

On January 30, 2024, Tait claimed the network “faces chronic underfunding” and had to “stretch limited resources to meet our mandate.” The broadcaster received a record $1.38 billion last year, reported Blacklock’s.

A committee report Future Of CBC: Challenges And Opportunities recommended “that the Government of Canada provide a substantial and lasting increase in the parliamentary appropriation for CBC.” That would remove dependency on paid subscriptions services and commercial advert revenues.

Figures show CBC commercial revenue fell from $767.8 million a year to $493.5 million over the past decade, revealed Blacklock’s. 

“If the CBC needs money, it should earn that money itself,” said Sims. “Taxpayers can’t afford the state broadcast’s bill now, let alone hundreds of millions more.”

In the fall, CEO Tait advocated more handouts in fiscal year 2025/26. “We need in the $400 million to $500 million range,” she told the Commons heritage committee at a November 25 hearing. 

“Really? More money?” said Sims. “It’s time to defund the CBC.”

The CBC should be defunded for three reasons, says the Taxpayers Federation, citing egregious executive bonuses, declining viewership, and dwindling accountability to taxpayers.

Meanwhile, the CBC slashed at least 346 jobs last year, reported Blacklock’s. Rival broadcasters also cut staff and programming costs to stay afloat.

“All Canadian media organizations face serious challenges,” Tait said. About 450 newspapers have gone out of business since 2009, according to government data.

She earlier told MPs as many as 800 jobs could be cut, owing to falling subscriptions and ad revenues. Audiences are abandoning television in droves for digital platforms, said Carol Najm, CBC’s chief financial officer.

Documents obtained by the Taxpayers Federation show a meagre 0.7% of Torontonians tune into the network’s supper hour newscast. According to the CBC’s latest quarterly report, only 1.7% of Canadians tune in to its programs. 

“The CBC is a huge waste of money,” reiterated Sims. The Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) estimates the CBC has cost taxpayers $80 billion since 1937.

“Nearly nobody is watching it and journalists should not be paid by the government,” she added.

But Future Of CBC makes the claims that “Canadians across the country” rely on the broadcaster for “independent journalism and entertainment.” 

Additional documents obtained by the Taxpayers Federation show the CBC handed out big bonuses last year, costing taxpayers $18 million.

CEO Tait was paid up to $551,000 in 2024, excluding an exuberant bonus of nearly 28%. 

“That’s a bonus of up to $154,448,” Sims said. “That’s more than the average Canadian family earns in a year.”

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Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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  • Bruce Atchison
    commented 2025-01-02 19:12:07 -0500
    CBC long outlived its mandate to showcase Canada to Canadians. In 1936, it was needed but not since 2000. Put that funding into the military. We could be a player on the world stage if we had a decent fighting force.
  • Bernhard Jatzeck
    commented 2025-01-02 17:45:10 -0500
    And what, pray tell, do Canadians get for their money? If the CBC was a stock, I wouldn’t hesitate to sell it as it provides a poor return on investment.