Evidence of meeting #118 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbcradio-canada.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
If you are talking about eliminating advertising, I think we have to look at all the other public broadcasters that are trying to find other revenue sources. Having only public funds is a weakness.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Even at five or six or seven times as much public financing, they still need advertising revenue.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I'll now go to Ms. Ashton.
Nikki, you have two and a half minutes, please.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB
Thank you.
I want to begin by taking issue with Mr. Dubé's comment about my being misinformed. I think it's indicative of the arrogance of the CBC and, clearly, as these are very vulnerable stories shared with us by your employees, I also think it's insulting.
You have an NDA problem. We know that the BBC banned the use of NDAs in 2014.
My question for you, Ms. Tait, as the leader of this organization, is why isn't CBC doing the same?
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
I will look into what you're describing as the “NDA problem.” I'm not aware of this being a problem.
What I will say to you is that we are leaders in efforts regarding the well-being of our employees and providing support to them. During a very difficult time during the pandemic, as you well know, there was a great social justice outcry. We launched an anti-harassment and anti-racism platform for people to be able to anonymously declare any concerns they might have. We have done a lot of work in this area, and I'm very proud of that work.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB
I want to pick up on that exact point, but first, I also want to be clear that we're talking about the use of NDAs prior to investigations and forcing employees to sign NDAs before their cases are investigated. That's what we're hearing is happening at the CBC, which is unacceptable.
I want to bring up a case in which a journalist who had written a number of articles about discrimination as part of their work experienced that same discrimination and harassment themselves. They complained to CBC, and CBC said it wouldn't investigate the case until they signed a non-disclosure agreement. They refused, and their claim was investigated without their participation. The investigation was eventually closed without a resolution.
This person went and found additional income during that time so that they could afford to pay their bills while their harassment case was being dealt with. As a result, CBC fired them. It was, once again, a culture of retribution and a reliance on non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements silencing people whose only issue was that they didn't want to take CBC's abuse lying down. It's embarrassing and it shouldn't be happening.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB
Bill C-65 mandated that harassment investigations must take place in a timely manner. Delaying an investigation until such time as an NDA is signed is a flagrant contravention of that law.
Do you find this practice acceptable?
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
We are in full compliance with that law, and, if I may say so, all indications from our annual Gallup polls show that the healthy environment for the majority of our employees is very much intact.
We have seen higher engagement scores over the last six years. I am enormously proud of the support that we've provided through our work on online harassment of our journalists, on all sorts of benefits and, most recently, on our collective agreements with the Canadian Media Guild extending benefits to, for example, indigenous employees. We've done an enormous amount of work in this way.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you very much, Ms. Tait. We're going to have to wrap up. We have gone well over time, and I have allowed it because Martin got some extra time, so there we go.
I am now going to go to the Conservatives and Kevin Waugh.
Kevin, you have five minutes, please.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Ms. Tait, along with Mr. Dubé, for coming.
Ms. Tait, when you sat in the chair, you said, “Whoa, we've had a pretty good year. We're only going to lose $100 million.” Is that right? You said that. You have had a decent year. You were projecting a $125-million deficit for 2024-25. You think you have reduced it by $20 million.
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
No, we've reduced it by $100 million. Our deficit is now $20 million, which is a far more manageable number.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
All right, so the news media reports are false. You're only at $20 million.
When you went to the Liberals—whoever went to the Liberals—asking for $42 million extra in the budget, what was that for? Was it for saving jobs, or was it for executive bonuses?
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
It was for saving jobs and to be able to reinvest in the independent production communities—in francophone and anglophone communities.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Was that the condition of the money that you received?
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
No. There is no condition when they grant an award as such.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
Well, you got $96 million in the main estimates and another $42 million in the budget, so you got an extra $138 million of taxpayers' money.
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
I've already clarified that the $100 million is related to salary and—
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBC/Radio-Canada
—inflation, so it's not incremental dollars. What we received was $42 million in incremental funding.
Conservative
Kevin Waugh Conservative Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK
You said regarding your management team that you're separate in regard to the bonuses. Your two executive vice-presidents and five vice-presidents are separate from you on the bonus structure.
Who decides your bonus?