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CTF launches legal challenge against CBC

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3 minute read

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Author: Franco Terrazzano 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation launched a legal challenge against the CBC as the public broadcaster continues to stonewall the release of senior executive bonuses.

“As a matter of principle, the CBC owes transparency to the taxpayers who pay their salaries,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “The CBC is also required to follow access to information law, but in this case, they’re blatantly breaking it.”

Lawyers representing the CTF filed the legal challenge with the Office of the Information Commissioner to force the CBC to disclose how much its seven senior executives took in bonuses last year.

On March 11, the CTF filed an access-to-information request seeking details on the compensation paid out to the CBC’s seven senior executives in 2023, including bonuses.

On April 9, the CBC issued a 30-day extension notice.

As a result of the extension, the public broadcaster was required to release the records on May 10, just days after CBC President Catherine Tait testified to a parliamentary committee on May 7.

On May 10, the CBC released a record showing its seven senior executives took home $3,793,000 in total compensation – an average of more than $540,000 a piece.

But the record did not reveal how much of that compensation was bonus pay.

CBC handed out $15 million in bonuses to 1,143 staff in 2023 despite announcing hundreds of layoffs and requesting more money from taxpayers.

Crown corporations like the Bank of Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation have provided bonus information for their executives in response to access-to-information requests from the CTF.

In a statement to the CTF’s lawyers, the CBC confirmed they have the requested bonus information, but are refusing to release it.

“Tait seems to think she’s above the law and shouldn’t have to show the same transparency her journalists demand from politicians,” Terrazzano said. “If Tait thinks she deserves her bonus, she should be honest with taxpayers about how much she took.

“Taxpayers have every right to know how much CBC senior executives took from them in bonuses last year. One way or another, the CTF will drag this information into the light.”

The OIC is the body responsible for investigating complaints and resolving disputes related to the federal access-to-information system.

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Business

The CBC gets $1.4 billion per year, but the Trudeau government wants to give it more

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

A Heritage Committee report is recommending “that the Government of Canada provide a substantial and lasting increase in the parliamentary appropriation for CBC, allowing it to eliminate its paid subscription services and gradually end its reliance on commercial advertising revenues.” 

The Liberal-run Heritage Committee is demanding millions more in funding for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation despite the fact it already gets roughly $1.4 billon from the government annually.

According to information obtained and published December 16 by Blacklock’s Reporter, a Heritage Committee report is recommending “that the Government of Canada provide a substantial and lasting increase in the parliamentary appropriation for CBC, allowing it to eliminate its paid subscription services and gradually end its reliance on commercial advertising revenues.”  

While the report did not suggest an amount, CBC CEO Catherine Tait previously testified that the outlet required funding in the “$400 million to $500 million range.” 

While the report suggested throwing more taxpayer dollars at the failing outlet, Conservatives wrote a dissenting report, arguing the media platform should be defunded.   

“The CBC cut hundreds of jobs while awarding lavish bonuses,” Conservative MP Kevin Waugh said, referencing CBC managers taking $14.9 million in bonuses this year while cutting 346 jobs.  

“This disgraceful abuse of taxpayer dollars when Canadians are struggling for financial survival has contributed to the ‘defund the CBC’ movement,” he continued.  

Waugh’s comments echo those of Canadian Taxpayer Federation Alberta director Kris Sims, who called on Parliament to abolish all taxpayer funding to the CBC, arguing that propping up the media outlet is not only a waste of money but also creates a conflict of interest for journalists.  

Indeed, not only has the CBC’s network audience plummeted, but many have pointed out that the outlet has become nothing more than a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.  

In seeming confirmation of Sims’ concerns, in October, Liberal Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s department admitted that federally funded media outlets buy “social cohesion.”  

Additionally, in September, House leader Karina Gould directed mainstream media reporters to “scrutinize” Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has repeatedly condemned government-funded media as an arm of the Liberals.  

Gould’s comments were in reference to Poilievre’s promise to defund the CBC if elected prime minister. Poilievre is a longtime critic of government-funded media, especially the CBC. 

There have also been multiple instances of the CBC pushing what appears to be ideological content, including the creation of pro-LGBT material for kids, tacitly endorsing the gender mutilation of children, promoting euthanasia, and even seeming to justify the burning of mostly Catholic churches throughout the country. 

Despite this, beginning in 2019, Parliament changed the Income Tax Act to give yearly rebates of 25 percent for each news employee in cabinet-approved media outlets earning up to $55,000 a year to a maximum of $13,750.  

The Canadian Heritage Department since admitted that the payouts are not even sufficient to keep legacy media outlets running and recommended that the rebates be doubled to a maximum of $29,750 annually. 

Last November, Trudeau again announced increased payouts for legacy media outlets that coincide with the leadup to the 2025 election. The subsidies are expected to cost taxpayers $129 million over the next five years. 

Similarly, Trudeau’s 2024 budget earmarked $42 million in increased funding for the CBC in 2024-25.  

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Economy

The White Pill: Big Government Can Be Defeated (Just Ask the Soviet Union)

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From StosselTV

People have been “black pilled” to think the world is doomed. Michael Malice says there’s hope.

In his book, “The White Pill,” he argues that tyrannical regimes, like the Soviet Union, can be toppled.

Today, media and universities distort history, and push socialism. It used to be worse. The New York Times once covered up Stalin’s famine, even as millions starved. Why? Malice says it’s because NYT star reporter Walter Duranty liked communism’s utopian promises, and status he got from his exclusive Stalin interviews.

Malice says the fall of the Soviet Union should give us hope that America can resist the universities and media’s brainwashing – or any tyranny that someone is “black pilled” about.

Our video explains Malice’s “white pill” and why you might want to take it.

After 40+ years of reporting, I now understand the importance of limited government and personal freedom.

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Libertarian journalist John Stossel created Stossel TV to explain liberty and free markets to young people.

Prior to Stossel TV he hosted a show on Fox Business and co-anchored ABC’s primetime newsmagazine show, 20/20.

Stossel’s economic programs have been adapted into teaching kits by a non-profit organization, “Stossel in the Classroom.” High school teachers in American public schools now use the videos to help educate their students on economics and economic freedom. They are seen by more than 12 million students every year.

Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. Other honors include the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award.

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To get our new weekly video from Stossel TV, sign up here: https://www.johnstossel.com/#subscribe

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