EDITORIAL: Carney’s big boost adds to CBC bloat

Article content

It’s tempting to suggest that, as Canada’s state broadcaster, CBC has a conflict of interest in covering federal elections and should recuse itself from such coverage.  

During our most recent election, Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged not only to add $150 million to the $1.4 billion CBC gets in tax dollars, but to ensure CBC retains the right to advertising. And he wants to expand CBC’s role, making it some kind of arbiter of what is and what is not government-approved reporting.  

Under the previous government of Justin Trudeau, the minister responsible for CBC, Pascale St-Onge, had proposed to increase funding for CBC but reduce its reliance on advertising.  

Carney’s proposal, however, provides both advertising and a funding boost, all of which, when fully implemented, could provide a substantial increase in overall CBC funding.  

In May, CBC announced it was eliminating controversial bonuses paid to senior executives and would instead hike salaries to compensate.  

Last year, the Canadian Press reported that CBC paid out $18.4 million in bonuses to 1,194 employees, including $3.3 million to 45 executives. This came during a plan to eliminate hundreds of positions and lay off as many as 800 staff. CBC backed off on most of the cutbacks when the government magically discovered extra funds to keep the staff employed.  

There’s no indication whether the salary hikes will compensate for the eliminated bonuses dollar-for-dollar.   

This comes after the furore over revelations that former CBC president Catherine Tait, who was appointed by cabinet through an order-in-council, was paid between $468,900 and $551,600 plus a performance bonus. That’s a big salary for a mediocre network.  

Carney’s mid-election pledge put employees of the state broadcaster in an awkward position. It’s a brave CBC reporter who will bite the hand that feeds the broadcaster, given Carney’s lavish pledge to back up the armoured money truck to the CBC loading dock and unload the cash once the vote is over.  

At a time when private news organizations are scrambling for advertising dollars, the government is putting a massive thumb on the scale and giving CBC a huge business advantage over its private-sector competitors.