SIMS: CBC set to get more money and power
Canada’s government news organization is set to get fatter and more powerful. In the middle of the election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to pay the CBC more money, waving around about $150 million in fresh taxpayer cash. CBC covered that big scoop with a headline calling the CBC “underfunded.” Think about that scene. Imagine being a CBC employee asking questions at a news conference during the election, with Carney saying that, if he won, the CBC would get more money, while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would defund the CBC. The CBC covered this funding story in the middle of the election. That’s a conflict of interest so big it would dwarf Godzilla. Journalists should not be paid by the government and that scene in the election is a perfect illustration of why. In the speech from the throne, the Carney government announced: “The government is determined to protect the institutions that bring these cultures and this identity to the world, like CBC/Radio-Canada.” To get an idea of what that protection could look like, consider the federal government report delivered on Feb. 20, before the election. Former heritage minister Pascale St-Onge said the government should nearly double the amount of money the CBC gets from taxpayers every year. “The average funding for public broadcasters in G7 countries is $62 per person, per year,” St-Onge said. “We need to aim closer to the middle ground, which is $62 per year per person.” If the government funded the CBC that way, the CBC would cost taxpayers about $2.5 billion per year. That amount would cover the annual grocery bill for about 152,854 Canadian families. St-Onge also pushed for the CBC mandate to be expanded to “fight against disinformation.” “I propose to anchor in CBC-Radio Canada’s mandate its role in helping the Canadian population fight against disinformation and understand fact-based information,” St-Onge said. Carney’s Liberal party platform pledged to “fully equip them ( CBC) to combat disinformation, so that Canadians have a news source they know they can trust.” What does this mean? Will the CBC play a role as an official “fact-checker” in Canada, or is this just clunky language urging the CBC to be more fact-based? What is clear is that the federal government is planning to hand the CBC more money and enshrine its funding into law, taking it out of the annual budget vote and clouding transparency. CBC hasn’t improved its accountability after years of scrutiny from Canadians. Former CEO Catherine Tait was being paid about half a million dollars per year. New CEO Marie‑Philippe Bouchard has started her new role where Tait left off, as she is also set to be paid between $478,300 and $562,700. After years of criticism over executive bonuses, the government media company finally said it would get rid of the bonuses but hike the salaries of the executives instead. With so many Canadians struggling to pay for the basics, the CBC needed to read the room and end the bonuses and knock the CEO down a few levels in pay. Taxpayers are forced to spend a lot of money on the CBC, but only a tiny fraction of them choose to watch it. For CBC News Network’s flagship English language prime-time news program, the audience is 1.8% of available viewers, according to its latest quarterly report. That means more than 98% of TV-viewing Canadians chose to watch something else. The CBC is a waste of taxpayers’ money. Nearly nobody is watching it and it is a severe conflict of interest for journalists to be paid by the government. The CBC doesn’t need more money from taxpayers; it needs to be defunded and raise money based on its work. Kris Sims is Alberta director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and former longtime member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
