Like private media and television broadcasters, CBC/Radio-Canada also needs to reduce its expenses. Catherine Tait, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, did not rule out possible layoffs Tuesday on the sidelines of a speech organized by the Montreal Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
“There will be difficult decisions to make,” said Catherine Tait, president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada.
She had already announced the job creation freeze a few weeks ago.
“We are trying to reduce and reduce expenses such as travel and leisure,” Catherine Tait said.
TOMA ICZKOVITS
After cutting 547 jobs at TVA last week, CBC/Radio-Canada is again looking for other solutions to cut its annual budget by $100 million over the next three years. In 2021-2022, CBC/Radio-Canada’s total spending is estimated at $2 billion. The federal government had provided $1.2 billion for this.
Are there any plans to cut jobs?
“At the moment I cannot comment on this as we are in the middle of this process. Normally we have a budget cycle and meet with our board at the end of November to start the fiscal year for the next year,” said Catherine Tait during a visit to Montreal on Tuesday afternoon.
“We look at everything. We have frozen vacancies. We have several tools in place to minimize the impact on our people and especially on our services to Canadians,” assured the President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada.
Competition from digital giants, polarization, weakened information system, disinformation, financial pressure… Catherine Tait painted a bleak picture of the current situation in her speech, while emphasizing the importance of CBC/Radio-Canada in the landscape media here.
A systemic problem
Faced with the Bloc Québécois’ request to set up a $50 million emergency fund to stem the media crisis, Catherine Tait is not very optimistic.
“I don’t think that’s the solution we’re looking for. We are talking about a systemic and structural problem. We are talking about business models that are broken. While $50 million can help, it is not enough,” commented Catherine Tait.
In addition to TVA, several media companies have recently announced cuts, including Bell, Les Coops de l’information and Métro.