Heritage minister won't rule out bonus for CBC CEO

“It appears that you're unwilling to rule out giving her a generous bonus and a generous compensation exit package. Certainly, I think the Canadians demand more respect for their tax dollars,” Conservative MP Damien Kurek told Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge at the Commons heritage committee Thursday. 

The committee heard that Catherine Tait, the outgoing CBC CEO, is the highest-paid person in the nearly 100-year history of the state broadcaster. Yet, she has overseen a massive contraction in viewership coupled with financial mismanagement resulting in hundreds of layoffs. 

Of $42 million in increased funding to CBC in last year's federal budget, $19 million was paid out in executive bonuses for job “performance.”

Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, a former longtime local broadcaster in Saskatchewan, pressed the minister about the allocation of tax dollars into the designer pockets of execs at the failing network which already receives close to $1.5 billion in annual subsidies.

“Does this sit well with you as the minister that the rank and file in this case paid the price and the bonuses were given? Your department gave the extra $42 million, $18 million of that went to the executives. Does that sit well with you today, trying to save journalism as you said?”

Catherine Tait's salary is higher than even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's, ranging between $468,000 and $561,000 plus so-called performance bonuses. 

Tait's term mercifully ends on January 3, 2025. She began her six-year stint at the helm of the CBC on July 3, 2018.

Sheila Gunn Reid

Chief Reporter

Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.