Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 20th, 2025

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

Could you send us a document, which would obviously remain confidential and available only to committee members, showing the salary increases for these 1,200 executives? This would give us the chance to compare these increases with the previous system, which included bonuses.

I'm an entrepreneur. I know that bonuses aren't guaranteed every year. Some years, business can be tough.

Are bonuses paid based on specific criteria? I believe that, at the time, they were based on certain performance criteria.

Given the end of bonuses—or salary increases, depending on your perspective—tied to performance criteria, how do you justify paying higher salaries, if applicable, without necessarily seeing any growth in your client base or improvement in services, for example?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Your question covers a lot of ground. I'll try to keep my answer short and get to the bottom of it.

A report prepared by the Mercer firm has been posted on our corporate website. The board of directors commissioned this report to determine the compliance of our total compensation system for our 1,200 non‑union employees, who aren't all senior executives.

This report outlines how the compensation structure is built, including the variable component, which we refer to as bonuses. It also discusses how the structure compares to its reference market.

Our strategy is to remain in the market median. This means that 50% of companies and organizations pay more than we do, and 50% pay less. We're really in the middle.

When we considered ending variable compensation or bonus programs, Mercer recommended that we maintain our position in the market in order to keep attracting and retaining the required talent.

It's not a matter of paying more than others, but of staying above the median. We adjusted salaries to maintain our position, but we won't be making recurring adjustments. There won't be—

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Côte-du-Sud—Rivière-du-Loup—Kataskomiq—Témiscouata, QC]

There has been a salary increase for—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Sorry, but you have gone well over your time.

Mr. Myles, I'll turn the floor over to you for five minutes.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

Thanks very much.

Thanks very much for being here, Ms. Bouchard.

One thing I've come to realize about CBC/Radio-Canada over the last number of years is that it's not only the people who don't like it who criticize it; it's also the people who do like it who criticize it, and I think there's room for that. It's one of these things where it's a Canadian institution that can be better, and it's okay for Canadians to ask it to become better and to challenge it.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I agree.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

I've seen it change over the years. I will say, I don't listen to all of the CBC programs, although I've been listening to Power & Politics while I work out in the morning. Just to let my colleagues know, Larry Brock, Scott Aitchison, Andrew Scheer, Melissa Lantsman and Michelle Rempel Garner have all been on it since I started listening over the last couple of months, so the representation has been there on that one show that I'm listening to, and they did a great job. Your colleagues did a great job on that show, and that's just one show.

I am curious about this polarization conversation. I think what's happening now is that the conversation about diversity is becoming about diversity of opinion, diversity of thought. How does that become part of the diversity conversation for the broadcaster? This is what I think a lot of members are bringing up.

When we think about polarization in Canada, it seems to me that one of the great sources of polarization is actually urban versus rural. I'm wondering if some of the polling has given you a similar sense, and also, if maybe some of the centralization that took place over the last 15 years.... I notice there's a bit of a reversal to this thought, and I wonder if this is an effort to address that rural-urban divide, which I think is probably one of the stronger divides, more so than right-left, in Canada. I just wonder if that was some of the thinking.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

First of all, I completely agree with all of what you said. I've worked with CBC/Radio-Canada for a long time, and I've been constantly asked.... People say, “We would like this.” People ask a lot of their public broadcaster, and that's a good thing. I've always found that to be positive, because they feel attached to it. They feel that it's essential to them, and they want it to be as good as it can be. It's a great motivator for us—for the employees and for me as their leader—to have that sense of connection and of expectation. It pushes us to go further, so that's a good thing. I think our plan, as you will find, is honest about it. We can do better, and we want to.

In terms of rural and urban, I completely agree with you. When I started in the mid-eighties—I'm old—we had so many people and so many shows in so many locations, and then through various waves of budget cuts, we got more and more centred into large urban areas. We lost something there. We maintained some of it on radio, but television, because it was more expensive to make, got more and more centred into big locations.

We find that, especially.... When I was visiting out west, I had a lot of conversations with business people, with ordinary citizens, with other media, emerging and established, about that—about how we need to hear more about what matters to people in the farming industry, in the fisheries, in various locations that are really important for our economic development, for our culture, but we seem to be too far from them to hear from them on a regular basis.

We've done some wonderful things, like going out to locations for a day or two and sitting with people and just listening. That's not continuous service, so that's not enough, but at least it opens the mind to the things you don't see when you don't run into these people on a day-to-day basis, when they don't know you. I strongly believe that the local extension, re-establishing ourselves in a number of locations where we've never been or where we have not been in a long time, is of great value.

We also need to do that with awareness of the state of local media in those locations, making sure that we partner where we can and support where we can, so that there is diversity of voices and we don't find ourselves to be the sole supplier of information. That would be a loss for Canadians.

It's a balance, but I believe you're right that the urban-rural divide is contributing to a sense of disconnect.

[David Myles, Liberal, Fredericton—Oromocto, NB]

Yes, for sure, hearing those stories on the air, especially on the national broadcaster, I think is an important part. It is a major part of our country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Unfortunately, your time is up, Mr. Myles.

Thank you. It was a great conversation.

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Bouchard, in your strategic plan, you described measures taken with good intentions. I look forward to seeing how they'll be implemented.

However, one paragraph caught my attention. You said that you're committed to providing more content related to culture, music and amateur sports, along with Canada‑wide coverage with a special focus on official language minority communities and francophones. You believe that this will give organizations access to sponsorships and national and international visibility.

Will you be bringing back the television show Les héros du samedi?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I don't know.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

If you bring back the show, can you please make sure that you keep the original music?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Oh my goodness! You're feeling nostalgic, Mr. Champoux.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Let's get back to serious matters. I see that you made many good commitments.

A question was asked earlier about the $150 million increase in funding proposed by the Liberals during the election campaign.

Do you already have plans to integrate this additional amount, for example, by responding to a fairly widespread request to gradually eliminate the need for advertising, for instance, but also by promoting free access to all levels of CBC/Radio‑Canada's digital platforms?

Could this money be used to take a step in that direction?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

The idea is to create public value. It's also necessary to strike a balance in terms of the availability of funds, the pace of payments and the stability of funding.

This data is vital. In the past, the funding was sometimes renewed. We were happy about this. However, the money was often reinvested for only a year or two. The funding would then return to a previous level, which prevented us from making sustainable investments.

In the case of regional deployment, for example, we hire people and commit to their careers. In this case, we can't rely on temporary investments.

The structural changes that you referred to have an impact because they cut resources. Unless a balance is created with predictable and stable additional resources, it's difficult to move in that direction. Once you leave any kind of commercial activity, it's quite difficult to return to it.

You need predictability. I don't have that right now.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

The major consultation carried out by Ms. St‑Onge, which you also took part in, focused heavily on CBC/Radio‑Canada's funding model.

If the budget were to increase, would you consider revising this model and moving away from the advertising market?

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I think—

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

You have four seconds left.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I'll refer you to the answer that I gave last time.

If we want to maintain a critical mass of activities and avoid losing out to Google, advertising on CBC/Radio‑Canada, particularly in the francophone market, offers some value. These considerations must be taken into account.

However, we weren't talking about advertising in all types of programs, but about advertising during news broadcasts. Ad‑free news has its benefits, but it mustn't cost us vital resources that we can use to invest in services.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

I have a question before we go any further.

I represent a riding in Hamilton, Ontario, which, as I'm sure you know, is the biggest city in the country that doesn't have an independent CBC radio station. Several years ago, I think, we got an interim Internet-based team, but as far as I can tell, that team has actually shrunk in the interim years. It hasn't grown, and there is still no CBC radio station.

Last year, Global News shut down 900 CHML radio, which Hamiltonians were used to going to for many years for news and information. Those reporters are sorely missed in our community.

Now there is a resurgence of energy among Hamiltonians to bring a CBC radio outlet to Hamilton. There is a station available to take over, 900 CHML, so there is something available that Hamiltonians are used to tuning in to for news and information. It's something that I think Hamilton would really like, to have the advantage of extra reporting from CBC. We're not Toronto, and it's not sufficient to Hamiltonians to say, “Well, you get 99.1”. It's a different market; it's a different community.

I'd like a response to that, please.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

Well, I'm going to take it under advisement. I am aware that we established, some time ago, what we call a digital station. It's not the same as having a full-fledged antenna and radio and signage and so on. I'll look into it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Lisa Hepfner]

Thank you. That's all I ask.

Mrs. Thomas, you have five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

Ms. Bouchard, on September 15, during a Radio-Canada broadcast, CBC journalist Élisa Serret made unfortunate comments. She said that it's “the Jews [who] finance a lot of American politics”, and then in another quote she said that the big cities are “run by Jews” and that Hollywood is “run by Jews”.

Now, I recognize that Ms. Serret has been put on indefinite leave from the CBC—that's my understanding—but I'm curious if, as CEO, you unequivocally condemn these comments.

[Marie-Philippe Bouchard]

I actually apologized to all of our employees for that incident, and the news management apologized to all viewers for that incident. It is unacceptable.