2023-10-11 21:11:15
Rumors of cutbacks have been circulating for several weeks at Radio-Canada, but now senior management confirms that the broadcaster will have to tighten its belt. Faced with a shortfall of $100 million per year, the state-owned company announced various measures on Wednesday to reduce its expenses, in particular to slow down hiring.
Le Devoir has learned that CBC/Radio-Canada is immediately suspending the creation of new positions until further notice. With regard to positions left vacant by resignations or retirements, managers are invited to assess their relevance before looking for a replacement.
CBC/Radio-Canada President Catherine Tait made the announcement to employees Wednesday afternoon. No division, not even information, will be spared from this freeze on new hires. “All CBC/Radio-Canada services will have to make savings, without exception. […] Our objective is to minimize the impacts on the services we offer to the Canadian population and to position ourselves well for the future,” said the director of media relations, Leon Mar, in an email to Le Devoir.
Other possibilities are also mentioned to contain the institution’s costs, in particular a reduction in travel expenses. For the moment, a voluntary retirement plan has been ruled out. Senior management stressed that it was still too early to predict further cuts.
Both CBC and Radio-Canada
This budget reduction plan comes a week after the surprise departure of Michel Bissonnette, who has headed the French services since 2017. The number two at Radio-Canada was fired, we later learned. His relationship with Catherine Tait was not good, especially since the controversy over the “N-word”.
A little before his dismissal, while rumors of cutbacks were persistent, Michel Bissonnette would have opposed budgetary restriction measures applying in the same way to Radio-Canada as to CBC, emphasizing that the French network is doing much better than its English-speaking counterpart at the moment.
For comparison, CBC represented less than 6% of market share on the English-speaking side of television in 2021-2022, compared to nearly 25% for ICI Radio-Canada Télé. Last year, the entire French service attracted more revenue than CBC, even though it theoretically covers a population four times smaller.
However, the hiring freeze announced Wednesday will affect both CBC and Radio-Canada. In front of French service employees on Wednesday, Catherine Tait rejected the idea that Radio-Canada would be disadvantaged in favor of CBC.
A challenge of 100 million
In 2021-2022, CBC/Radio-Canada’s annual spending exceeded $2 billion. For the next three years, the public broadcaster now estimates that it will face a budgetary “challenge” of 100 million annually.
That includes a $60 million cut in the state funding it receives each year. At issue: the reduction in parliamentary appropriations decreed by the Trudeau government in the last budget, but also the non-renewal of the program put in place during COVID to compensate for the drop in revenue.
The other part of the annual shortfall, or $40 million, is attributable to inflation and the increase in production costs. All this in a context where linear television audiences are falling, which translates into a reduction in revenue.
CBC/Radio-Canada is not the only broadcaster having to deal with a drop in revenue. Last May, Quebecor eliminated 240 positions, including 140 within the TVA Group. The company’s president and CEO, Pierre Karl Péladeau, has not ruled out in recent weeks that other cutbacks could be to come.
Time for choices
In this difficult situation, the Union of Radio-Canada Workers (STTRC) is not surprised by the measures announced Wednesday by senior management to make up for the loss of $100 million. The president of the union, Pierre Tousignant, now hopes that this hiring freeze will not have the effect of further burdening current employees.
“In recent years, employees have seen their workload increase because of all the new platforms, like Instagram. If we no longer hire, it is clear that we cannot ask those who are there to do more. Even asking to do the same is impossible. Management arrives at the time of choice. We have to ask ourselves if we can still be as much on all platforms, if we decide to no longer hire,” Mr. Tousignant said.
With Boris Proulx
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