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CBC president and chief executive officer Catherine Tate is awaiting an appearance before the Cultural Heritage Commission in Ottawa on May 7.Patrick Doyle/Canadian Press
Sparks fly every time CBC President Catherine Tate appears before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. This is because members of Congress from all walks of life are taking advantage of the growing politicization of public broadcasting and committing the worst acts.
Tuesday's Heritage Committee hearing, in which Mr. Tait was called to update MPs on job cuts at CBC/Radio-Canada, was interrupted by Conservative MP Rachel Thomas, who asked who the main witness was and what he was talking about. He was especially incited because he accused him of “lying” about whether he was doing the same thing. , when and why the CBC may or may not pay out bonuses to executives this year.
The hearing turned cacophonous, with Liberal MPs criticizing Thomas for nagging witnesses, and Liberal chair Hedy Fry accusing Conservative MPs of having a “tendency to argue with everyone”. It has deteriorated to the point where he is doing whatever he wants. The sad display of unparliamentary behavior only ended when Liberal and New Democrat MPs used their committee majority to abruptly stop the hearing, mercifully sparing Mr Tait further suffering.
In his final year in office, Tate arrives on the committee with what he believes is good news. The CBC will not have to cut 800 jobs to address a $125 million budget shortfall in 2024-2025, as Tait announced in December. Tait said the cuts ended Tuesday after cutting 346 positions (200 of them vacant) in last month's budget and receiving an additional $42 million from Ottawa.
In fact, compared to almost every other media organization in the country, CBC/Radio-Canada is cash-rich. Major estimates released in February revealed that taxpayer funding for CBC/Radio-Canada would increase by $96 million from 2024 to 2025, bringing total federal aid to $1.4 billion. Ta. This is on top of the $42 million announced in the budget.
Ms Thomas pressed Ms Tate to promise that no surplus funds would be used to pay bonuses to senior executives. Mr Tait rejected that promise, saying decisions about bonuses for the 2023-24 financial year, which ended in March, rest with the public broadcaster's board and that the board would not meet until next month to discuss the issue. Ta.
It was at this point in the hearing that Ms Thomas accused her of lying now or lying in January, with Ms Tate telling the committee: This year it will be the end of March. The board will decide. ”
A simple review of the January hearing record would absolve Mr. Thomas of the serious allegations he made against Mr. Tate. At the time, Mr. Tate also said that after the end of the fiscal year, “it will take some time to evaluate.'' Normally, the results would be reported at the June board meeting. ”
To be clear, there are legitimate questions about whether CBC should be paying the bonus at all. But the issue was relatively short-lived and could have allowed the committee to get down to the real issues without all the vitriol.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poièvre has called for “defunding'' the CBC while keeping Radio-Canada on the pretext that the English-language broadcast networks are ratings failures that imitate (and poorly) the practices of commercial broadcasters. ” he swore. , no longer serves any useful purpose. The Conservatives argue that the francophone network is a ratings success and essential to the survival of French Canada, both inside and outside Quebec.
La Presse reported last week that Mr Tait and chief reform officer Marco Dubet were working to “improve relations” between the British and French networks, which currently operate largely independently of each other. Radio-Canada supporters have been in an uproar ever since. This is to save costs and increase competitiveness with foreign digital platforms. But critics charge that the implicit aim of the exercise is to make it difficult for a future Poièvre government to abolish the CBC.
At Tuesday's hearing, Tait said “the editorial independence of the CBC and Radio-Canada remains a fundamental principle” and that any efforts by the networks to collaborate on technology initiatives as they move to an “all-digital world” will continue. He claimed to be unaffected by movement. ”
But Radio-Canada defenders remain skeptical. They pointed to Tait's failure to respond to the controversy surrounding the use of the N-word on a Radio Canada broadcast in 2020, as well as the Toronto-based producer's decision to Frenchize a CBC podcast last year. There is. Paris. Tate later apologized for the podcast's failure and ordered the Quebec edition, but the damage was done.
It will be up to Mr Tate's successor to rebuild shattered trust, face heavy questions from leading members of the heritage committee and deal with a Conservative government that, if polls are to be believed, is hostile. become.
Who in their right mind would want that job?
