Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 20th, 2025

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

As far as I know, currently there are no such temporary foreign workers employed at CBC. I don't know the history of 2015 that you're citing, but right now there are none.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Did you see the report that came out? You're unaware that there's any report of temporary foreign workers being employed by the CBC.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

What I'm saying is that my information is that currently there are none.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

That's not what I'm asking about, is it?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Well, I don't know about 2015. I wasn't there.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Sure. You're very good at skirting questions and trying to slough them off as if it's up to the last CEO and you're not responsible for answering for the organization anything past the last 11 months. Ms. Bouchard, you are in this seat. You occupy this title, this role, and therefore the responsibility that comes with it. There is an expectation that you would have some familiarity with the history of the CBC and the decisions that have been made.

Since 2015, 20 temporary foreign workers were employed by the CBC, and that's just from the province of Ontario alone. Are Canadian workers not good enough for the CBC?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

We employ 7,000 Canadians at this stage—that's how many Canadians work for CBC. I think they're exemplary employees. I don't see why you would say that Canadian workers are not good enough for CBC. That's not the evidence.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Let's not put words in my mouth, Ms. Bouchard. I did not make that statement, but CBC's actions are making that statement. They are pointing to the belief that Canadian workers are somehow not good enough.

Some of these positions that were filled are computer programmers, computer network technicians, business management consultants, marketing researchers, announcers and broadcast technicians. We have many individuals in this country who would be more than happy and more than qualified to fill those roles.

My question is why Canadians weren't given priority over temporary foreign workers.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Again, I don't know what you're referring to, in the sense that I wasn't there. The evidence I have is that there are no foreign workers working for CBC at this point, and there are 7,000 employees who are Canadian.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Would you commit to providing this committee, then, with the total number of temporary foreign workers hired within the CBC and CBC/Radio-Canada in the past 10 years and the positions for which they were hired, and providing that for the report by the end of October?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I don't know if that information exists or not. If it does, I'm happy to provide it, but I'm not familiar with it.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Would employment records for the last 10 years not exist anywhere at the CBC?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I'm just saying that I don't know if they exist. If they do exist, I will gladly provide them to you. If they don't, they don't.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Okay. I would appreciate that. Thank you very much.

I'm going to pass the floor to my colleague, Mr. Waugh.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon South, SK]

I wanted a clarification, if you don't mind, Ms. Bouchard.

You said the CRTC may consider the subscription numbers confidential. Does it forbid you from releasing the numbers, or is that your decision, and your decision only, for releasing them?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

You're absolutely correct. It's not a ban on releasing information; it's just a matter of the conditions under which we are expected to negotiate with distributors. We have discussions with all sorts of distributors for our content, for our platforms and for our apps. That creates a context where information may not be available to the people you're negotiating with.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon South, SK]

Your lawyers today went to court trying to prevent the subscription numbers for CBC Gem.... You were very active today, your organization, sending your lawyers ahead saying no, we're not going to talk about subscription of CBC Gem. Why?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I'll restate my answer to your previous question. We are in the market negotiating with providers on a commercial basis for distribution. There is information that is sometimes sensitive in those negotiations. We have a regulatory body that recognizes that sensitivity and allows people, businesses that are in this market, to consider that information confidential.

We have an interpretation by the Information Commissioner that says that we have not met the standard for that confidentiality. We want reconciliation between those two interpretations, and that's why we asked the Federal Court to consider the situation.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon South, SK]

Okay, you're right. The Information Commissioner, a while ago, asked for CBC to disclose the numbers.

I don't know what you're hiding. I really don't, because you're a public broadcaster. You're getting the funds from the public, and you're not in competition with Bell Media, Crave or any of those. I know the metrics of radio, TV and digital, and I don't see the issue with CBC Gem saying, “We own 1,500 subscribers.” It's been going on for six years. I think that's the least—

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I gave you a number—

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon South, SK]

Where is your accountability and your transparency that you talk about in the five-year plan?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I gave you a number earlier, which was 5.3 million accounts created.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon South, SK]

Those are different from subscriptions.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I agree that they're different from paid subscriptions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

That's your time, Mr. Waugh. Thank you very much.

Mr. Al Soud, you have six minutes.