The payroll of Radio-Canada/CBC employees making more than $100,000 has doubled in seven years, from $59.5 million in 2015-2016 to $119.5 million in 2016 the years 2021-2022.
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The figures come from a request for information from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
The number of public sector employees falling into this category has almost doubled.
During the same seven-year period, the number of employees earning $100,000 or more increased from 438 to 949.
After major cuts during Stephen Harper’s administration, Justin Trudeau promised during the 2015 federal election to inflate Radio-Canada/CBC’s budget.
In its first budget in spring 2016, the new Trudeau administration approved a reinvestment of $675 million over five years to “modernize and revitalize” the public broadcaster, but also to support the country’s cultural community.
At the other end of the spectrum, private-sector media have suffered significant losses over the past year following the boost Ottawa and the provinces provided to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past year alone, job losses at Quebecor, Bell Media and Postmedia numbered in the hundreds.