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CBC bonuses total $15 million in 2023

Published

1 year ago

3 minute read

News release from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation gave out $14.9 million in bonuses in 2023, according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

This comes on the heels of a CBC announcement in December 2023, just weeks before Christmas, that the public broadcaster was planning to lay off hundreds of employees.

Since 2015, the CBC has issued $114 million in bonuses.

“CBC President Catherine Tait is wrong to hand out bonuses while announcing hundreds of job losses and begging the government for more taxpayer cash,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Tait won’t do the right thing, so Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge needs to step in and shut down these bonuses.”

All told, 1,143 CBC staffers took a bonus in 2023, costing taxpayers $14,902,755. That number could climb even higher as the records indicate the data is up to date “as of Oct. 26, 2023.”

“[Bonus] pay… is a key part of the total compensation of our non-union staff, about 1,140 employees,” Tait recently told a parliamentary committee.

Tait was called to testify at the committee in January 2024 on executive bonuses and planned layoffs at the public broadcaster.

The CBC also dished out $11.5 million in raises (to date) for the 2023-24 fiscal year, with 6,575 employees taking a pay bump, representing 87 per cent of its workforce, according to separate access-to-information records obtained by the CTF. There were no pay cuts.

The CBC has rubberstamped $97 million in pay raises since 2015.

There are now 1,450 CBC staffers taking home a six-figure salary, according to access-to-information records obtained by the CTF.

Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power in 2015, the number of CBC employees taking a six-figure annual salary has spiked by 231 per cent.

Following Tait’s committee appearance, during which she claimed the public broadcaster was subject to “chronic underfunding,” the federal government announced it was increasing funding to the CBC by 96.1 million.

The CBC will receive $1.4 billion in taxpayer funding for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

Tait’s annual pay is between $472,900 and $623,900, which includes salary, bonus and other benefits, according to the CBC’s senior management compensation summary.

In 2014, Tait’s predecessor, Hubert Lacroix, told a Senate committee his annual bonus was “around 20 per cent.”

“Tait should be taking a pay cut and ending bonuses,” Terrazzano said. “It’s time for the government to end the taxpayer-funded bonuses at the CBC.”

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Business

The CBC is a government-funded giant no one watches

Published on June 21, 2025

By

This article supplied by Troy Media.

Troy Media By Kris Sims

The CBC is draining taxpayer money while Canadians tune out. It’s time to stop funding a media giant that’s become a political pawn

The CBC is a taxpayer-funded failure, and it’s time to pull the plug. Yet during the election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to pump another $150 million into the broadcaster, even as the CBC was covering his campaign. That’s a blatant conflict of interest, and it underlines why government-funded journalism must end.

The CBC even reported on that announcement, running a headline calling itself “underfunded.” Think about that. Imagine being a CBC employee asking Carney questions at a campaign news conference, while knowing that if he wins, your employer gets a bigger cheque. Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to defund the CBC. The broadcaster is literally covering a story that determines its future funding—and pretending there’s no conflict.

This kind of entanglement isn’t journalism. It’s political theatre. When reporters’ paycheques depend on who wins the election, public trust is shattered.

And the rot goes even deeper. In the Throne Speech, the Carney government vowed to “protect the institutions that bring these cultures and this identity to the world, like CBC/RadioCanada.” Before the election, a federal report recommended nearly doubling the CBC’s annual funding. Former heritage minister Pascale St-Onge said Canada should match the G7 average of $62 per person per year—a move that would balloon the CBC’s budget to $2.5 billion annually. That would nearly double the CBC’s current public funding, which already exceeds $1.2 billion per year.

To put that in perspective, $2.5 billion could cover the annual grocery bill for more than 150,000 Canadian families. But Ottawa wants to shovel more cash at an organization most Canadians don’t even watch.

St-Onge also proposed expanding the CBC’s mandate to “fight disinformation,” suggesting it should play a formal role in “helping the Canadian population understand fact-based information.” The federal government says this is about countering false or misleading information online—so-called “disinformation.” But the Carney platform took it further, pledging to “fully equip” the CBC to combat disinformation so Canadians “have a news source
they know they can trust.”

That raises troubling questions. Will the CBC become an official state fact-checker? Who decides what qualifies as “disinformation”? This isn’t about journalism anymore—it’s about control.

Meanwhile, accountability is nonexistent. Despite years of public backlash over lavish executive compensation, the CBC hasn’t cleaned up its act. Former CEO Catherine Tait earned nearly half a million dollars annually. Her successor, Marie Philippe Bouchard, will rake in up to $562,700. Bonuses were scrapped after criticism—but base salaries were quietly hiked instead. Canadians struggling with inflation and rising costs are footing the bill for bloated executive pay at a broadcaster few of them even watch.

The CBC’s flagship English-language prime-time news show draws just 1.8 per cent of available viewers. That means more than 98 per cent of TV-viewing Canadians are tuning out. The public isn’t buying what the CBC is selling—but they’re being forced to pay for it anyway.

Government-funded journalism is a conflict of interest by design. The CBC is expensive, unpopular, and unaccountable. It doesn’t need more money. It needs to stand on its own—or not at all.

Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.

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International

Seattle Police Department investigating attack on journalist during Antifa protests

Published on June 21, 2025

By

From The Center Square

By 

“I turned around and somebody pulled him back and he kicked me in the face. I pulled out pepper spray and I nailed him in the face, and then I retreated and called 911 and then the police never showed up.” Higby said he waited for police for about 45 minutes but they never came.

Seattle Police are investigating an attack on an independent conservative journalist last weekend during anti-Trump and anti-ICE rallies in Seattle.

Cam Higby says he was assaulted by Antifa members as he attended the sometimes violent “No Kings Day” protests in Seattle at a Department of Homeland Security Building (DHS) on June 14.

Separately, independent journalist Brandi Kruse says she also was assaulted by Antifa members in Tukwila, just south of Seattle. Both attacks were captured on video posted to social media.

“It was out of nowhere, completely out of nowhere that they got violent,” said Higby, whose attack was captured on vide and posted to X. The attack left him bloodied, bruised and with a concussion that is still causing headaches, vision impairment and memory issues nearly a week later, he said.

In a Friday interview, Higby told The Center Square he had been covering the protests in Seattle all day and took a seat on the ground near the federal building by himself when the assailants came out of nowhere.

“They took over the streets, they lit fires to cars, they shot fireworks at cars. Then it’s out of nowhere where this guy yells, ‘Hey Cam, it’s time for you to leave,’ and they charged me and I knew one of them and I’d identified him earlier in the night because he threatened to kill me three weeks earlier,” Higby. told The Center Square

The attacker he was referring threatened to kill Higby in an Instagram post, he said, which was reported to police.

“They crossed the street to get to me and charged me and before I could stand up, I was pinned up against the wall,” said Higby. “They were grabbing at my gas mask and my helmet and just keeping me in place and one of them picked me up and choked me out from the rear. And then he released me, punched me twice in the head with SAP gloves which were filled with steal or lead shot. I turned around and somebody pulled him back and he kicked me in the face. I pulled out pepper spray and I nailed him in the face, and then I retreated and called 911 and then the police never showed up.”

Higby said he waited for police for about 45 minutes but they never came.

Video journalist Jonathan Cho, who was also covering protests, picked him up and took him back to his car across town, Highboy said.

Higby said he went to urgent care the next morning and then to the emergency room when his symptoms related to the concussion were getting worse.

“They said if I had a brain bleed, I’d already be dead. I think it’s very likely that if I wasn’t wearing a helmet, that I would have been either killed or critical,” Higby said.

Kruse, host of the unDivided video podcast, told The Center Square she had only been at the Tukwila protest scene for 30 seconds when she was attacked.

“I didn’t even get a chance to cover it. Within 30 seconds of walking up, I heard a couple of people shout, ‘that’s Brandi Kruse.’ And then they started to form around me, and initially it was they were blocking my camera with their umbrellas because they don’t want you to document their criminal conduct. And then they started spraying water at me, and then they got a little more aggressive,” Kruse said. “They were dumping full bottles of water and hurling bottles of water and it hit me a couple of times from behind.”

Kruse said she tried to walk away but was followed with protesters pushing signs into her face and continuing to hurl things at her.

“But the thing is they won’t let you walk away, and they don’t want you to walk away. I’m just sort of looking over my shoulder and then I see this individual coming from behind me to the right who had something that they were starting to spray. And you know, your mind goes in a million different places, and you don’t know what it could be, but as soon as it hit my eyes and I got the smell, I knew it was some sort of bug spray because it had that distinctive smell. We found out later it was this hornet and wasp killer that can spray like up to 20 feet,” said Kruse, who posted to social media video of the attack and security escort pouring water into her eyes to flush out the spray which she shared burned painfully for days.

In the assault on Higby, police say they know who the assailant is but have yet to make an arrest. Higby said he’s “10 thousand percent sure” it’s the same person who threatened him weeks before.

Higby told The Center Square he’s been informed that despite the seriousness of the assault, prosecutors may not be inclined to pursue charges.

Seattle Police responded to an email from The Center Square on Friday requesting details on the case and received the following response: “This case is an open and active investigation assigned to SPD’s homicide & Assault Unit. SPD policy prevents me from releasing suspect details or ‘leads,’” wrote Eric Munoz, detective in SPD media and public affairs.

Seattle Police Guild President Mike Solantold The Center Square in a Friday interview that he was skeptical as to whether prosecutors would pursue charges, despite the serious nature of the attack on Higby. He also condemned the lack of coverage in the mainstream media of the assaults on journalists.

“I think the bigger conversation here is why isn’t corporate media drawing attention to this political violence as they’re watching journalists get assaulted and it doesn’t appear to be covered by corporate media at all. My question is why, and the fact that that’s not happening is a major problem with what’s unfolding in our nation,” said Solan.

Kruse said she was also disappointed that members of the mainstream media have ignored the attack.

“I was getting text messages from former colleagues in television news in Seattle asking if I was OK, saying they saw the video, but then never reporting on it. So it’s not as if they’re oblivious…..if these were the proud boys, or if these were right-wing extremists and they assaulted journalists, there’s no way that it wouldn’t be covered,” said Kruse.

Kruse said she’s been in contact with officials in the Trump administration who are paying attention to the case, but has also filed a police report with Tukwila PD.

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