Taxpayers Federation: Is Catherine Tait “trying” to bring down the CBC?

News release from Franco Terrrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

CBC’s fresh batch of bonuses cost you $18 million

Catherine Tait has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments during her tenure as CBC President and CEO.

Trust in the CBC is in freefall, viewership and ad revenue are down, hundreds of jobs were just slashed, and more Canadians than ever want it defunded.

So it’s good to know that in between all that hard work, Tait still found the time to take more of your money to slosh around more bonuses at the state broadcaster.

The CBC rubber stamped another $18.4 million in bonuses in 2024.

You read that right: the CBC just took $18.4 million of your tax dollars and turned it into bonus cheques for 1,194 executives, managers and non-union staff.

Forty-five executives took home $3.3 million in bonuses, for an average of $73,000 each.

To put things in perspective: the average salary for Canadian workers last year was less than $70,000. That means CBC executives took home more of your money as a bonus than the average Canadian makes in a year.

At this point, we’re starting to wonder if Tait is a double agent working to bring down the CBC from the inside. Because these taxpayer-funded bonuses are making a great case for why the CBC should be defunded.

This latest round of bonuses comes less than six months after the CTF reported the CBC dished out $15 million in bonuses last year.

CBC bonuses now total $132 million since 2015.

Members of Parliament on the Heritage Committee are calling for an emergency meeting to drag Tait back to Ottawa to answer for the latest bonus bonanza.

If that happens, Tait will probably claim, yet again, that the CBC doesn’t hand out bonuses, which she prefers to call “performance” or “at-risk” pay.

And then she’ll defend the bonus payments by claiming her hands are tied, as payouts are triggered when CBC staff hit pre-set “key performance indicators.”

But here’s the thing about these KPIs.

The CTF went through every CBC annual report from 2019-20 to 2023-23.

Last year, the CBC only hit 40 per cent of its KPIs. That’s the kind of report card that should get your grounded, not a big bonus.

And it’s not like the CBC just had a bad year. Add up all of those years and the CBC only hit 58 per cent of its KPIs.

Keep in mind, these are performance targets they set for themselves. And they still only hit 58 per cent of them.

So, naturally, in honour of that stellar performance, the CBC showered itself with more than $61 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses during those years.

That’s like creating the test you have to take, still only managing to get a D+ and then rewarding yourself with other people’s money.

At this point, it’s clear Tait isn’t willing to do the right thing and end the taxpayer gravy train at the CBC.

So now it’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland or Heritage Minister Pascal St-Onge to step in and put a stop to this nonsense.

Or better yet, just defund the CBC.

Franco’s note: Sorry to be the bearer of more bad news. But it’s not just the bonuses. The number of CBC staffers taking a six-figure base salary has increased by 231 per cent under the Trudeau government. There are now 1,450 CBC staffers with a six-figure annual salary.

We need to keep building the taxpayer army that will push to defund the CBC. You can help build that army by signing and sharing the PETITION to defund the CBC and end media subsidies.

Here’s the link to the taxpayer petition: https://www.taxpayer.com/petitions/defund-the-cbc-and-end-media-bailout

Related Topics:#CanadianTaxpayersFederation #CatherineTait #CBCBonuses #FrancoTerrazzano

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Over two thirds of Canadians say Ottawa should reduce size of federal bureaucracy

Published on October 15, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Matthew Lau

From 2015 to 2024, headcount at Natural Resources Canada increased 39 per cent even though employment in Canada’s natural resources sector actually fell one per cent. Similarly, there was 382 per cent headcount growth at the federal department for Women and Gender Equality—obviously far higher than the actual growth in Canada’s female population.

According to a recent poll, there’s widespread support among Canadians for reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy. The support extends across the political spectrum. Among the political right, 82.8 per cent agree to reduce the federal bureaucracy compared to only 5.8 per cent who disagree (with the balance neither agreeing nor disagreeing); among political moderates 68.4 per cent agree and only 10.0 per cent disagree; and among the political left 44.8 per cent agree and 26.3 per cent disagree.

Taken together, “67 per cent agreed the federal bureaucracy should be significantly reduced. Only 12 per cent disagreed.” These results shouldn’t be surprising. The federal bureaucracy is ripe for cuts. From 2015 to 2024, the federal government added more than 110,000 new bureaucrats, a 43 per cent increase, which was nearly triple the rate of population growth.

This bureaucratic expansion was totally unjustified. From 2015 to 2024, headcount at Natural Resources Canada increased 39 per cent even though employment in Canada’s natural resources sector actually fell one per cent. Similarly, there was 382 per cent headcount growth at the federal department for Women and Gender Equality—obviously far higher than the actual growth in Canada’s female population. And there are many similar examples.

While in 2025 the number of federal public service jobs fell by three per cent, the cost of the federal bureaucracy actually increased as the number of fulltime equivalents, which accounts for whether those jobs were fulltime or part-time, went up. With the tax burden created by the federal bureaucracy rising so significantly in the past decade, it’s no wonder Canadians overwhelmingly support its reduction.

Another interesting poll result: “While 42 per cent of those surveyed supported the government using artificial intelligence tools to resolve bottlenecks in service delivery, 32 per cent opposed it, with 25 per cent on the fence.” The authors of the poll say the “plurality in favour is surprising, given the novelty of the technology.”

Yet if 67 per cent of Canadians agree with significantly shrinking the federal bureaucracy, then solid support for using AI to increasing efficiency should not be too surprising, even if the technology is relatively new. Separate research finds 58 per cent of Canadian workers say they use AI tools provided by their workplace, and although many of them do not necessarily use AI regularly, of those who report using AI the majority say it improves their productivity.

In fact, there’s massive potential for the government to leverage AI to increase efficiency and control labour expenses. According to a recent study by a think-tank at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson), while the federal public service and the overall Canadian workforce are similar in terms of the percentage of roles that could be made more productive by AI, federal employees were twice as likely (58 per cent versus 29 per cent) to have jobs “comprised of tasks that are more likely to be substituted or replaced” by AI.

The opportunity to improve public service efficiency and deliver massive savings to taxpayers is clearly there. However, whether the Carney government will take advantage of this opportunity is questionable. Unlike private businesses, which must continuously innovate and improve operational efficiency to compete in a free market, federal bureaucracies face no competition. As a result, there’s little pressure or incentive to reduce costs and increase efficiency, whether through AI or other process or organizational improvements.

In its upcoming budget and beyond, it would be a shame if the federal government does not, through AI or other changes, restrain the cost of its workforce. Taxpayers deserve, and clearly demand, a break from this ever-increasing burden.

Matthew Lau

Adjunct Scholar, Fraser Institute

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Former Trump Advisor Says US Must Stop UN ‘Net Zero’ Climate Tax On American Ships

Published on October 15, 2025

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Stephen Moore

Later this week the United Nations will hold a vote on a multi-billion climate-change tax targeted squarely at American industry. Without quick and decisive action by the White House, this U.N. tax on fossil fuels will become international law.

This resolution before the International Maritime Organization will impose a carbon tax on cargo and cruise ships that carry $20 trillion of merchandise over international waters. Roughly 80% of the bulkage of world trade is transported by ship.

The resolution is intended to advance the very “net zero” carbon emissions standard that has knee-capped the European economies for years and that American voters have rejected.

This tax is clearly an unnecessary restraint on world trade, thus making all citizens of the world poorer.

It is also an international tax that would be applied to American vessels and, as such, is a dangerous precedent-setting assault on U.S. sovereignty. Since when are American businesses subject to international taxes imposed by the United Nations?

The U.S maritime industry believes the global tax would cost American shippers more than $100 billion over the next seven years if enacted.

Worst of all, if the resolution passes, it will require the retirement of older ships and enable a multi-billion-dollar wealth transfer to China, which has come to dominate shipbuilding in recent years. China STRONGLY supports the tax scheme, even though, ironically, no nation has emitted more pollutants into the atmosphere than they have. Yet WE are getting socked with a tax that indirectly pays for THEIR pollution.

Despite the fact that we pay a disproportionate share of the tax, the U.S. has almost no say on how the revenues are spent. This is the ultimate form of taxation without representation.

Even if the United States chooses not to implement the tax on domestic shipping, it will still be enforced by foreign ports of origin or destination as well as by flag states. As a result, American importers and exporters will be required to pay the tax regardless of domestic policy decisions.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy have jointly stated that America “will not accept any international environmental agreement that unduly or unfairly burdens the United States or our businesses.” They call the financial impact on the U.S. of this global carbon tax “disastrous, with some estimates forecasting global shipping costs increasing as much as 10% or more.”

The U.S. maritime industry complains that although American vessels carry only about 12% of the globally shipped merchandise, U.S. flag vessels would bear almost 20% of this tax. No wonder China and Europe are for it. The EU nations get 17 yes votes to swamp the one no vote out of Washington.

Unfortunately, right now without White House pressure, we could lose this vote because of defections by our allies.

To prevent this tax, the White House should announce a set of retaliation measures. This could include a dollar-for-dollar reduction in U.S. payments to NATO, the U.N., IMF and World Bank.

At a time when financial markets are dealing with trade disputes, the last thing the world — least of all the United States — needs is a United Nations excise tax on trade.

Stephen Moore is co-founder of Unleash Prosperity and a former Trump senior economic advisor.