The CBC will suffer deeper cuts in independent production than Radio-Canada, but both will still cut similar numbers of jobs, chief Catherine Tait announced.
• Also read: 800 jobs cut at CBC/Radio-Canada: “Dark day for Radio-Canada”
Radio-Canada will see a $15 million cut for independent productions, while its English-language focus will see a $25 million cut in the same investment sector.
“So about a 20% difference in all the cuts at Radio-Canada and CBC. There is still a difference between the two,” she told the parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
In early December, CBC/Radio-Canada announced that in addition to 200 job openings, both companies would also eliminate 600 jobs to address a $36 million structural deficit for the year.
Ms Tait was heavily criticized by all parties for these same cuts, even though the French-speaking component was relatively more popular.
Since that date, about a hundred employees have already been laid off, “slightly more at CBC than at Radio-Canada,” said Marco Dubé, head of transformation and senior vice-president, people and culture, at CBC/Radio. -Canada.
“We have to look at the whole thing, all the compressions and cuts. “We are talking about positions, of course, but also about spending on independent production,” defended Catherine Tait.
Furthermore, despite Radio-Canada's good performance in the French-language market, Ms. Tait noted a “significant decline in the advertising market in Quebec,” evidenced by the recent layoffs at TVA, she said.
“It was very serious. If we talk about our indicators for this year, we are already predicting a decline in advertising numbers, especially in the French-speaking market. And that is the real situation this year,” Ms Tait said.
The public broadcaster's CEO rejected the idea that it was possible to maintain “a Radio Canada without CBC's presence” since both share their infrastructure, technologies, equipment, administration, finances, etc.
“We are a company, aside from programming,” she said. We're happy about the news, about the decisions about the series and all that, but the entire infrastructure is shared. If we cut CBC, there will be much more difficult and much larger cuts at Radio-Canada too.”