Radio-Canada announced Monday afternoon the elimination of 600 jobs and the elimination of 200 vacant positions, or approximately 10% of its workforce, a new blow for Canadian media.
It was the President and CEO, Catherine Tait, who made the announcement during a meeting with employees of the public broadcaster. “This portrait results from the latest forecasts,” she said. It could still change. » The 600 positions that will be eliminated affect both union members (85%) and non-union members (15%). Layoffs will be made “in the coming weeks,” but most will take place at the start of the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
This is “a dark day” for the public broadcaster and for access to information, reacted the Union of Radio-Canada Workers (STTRC-CSN) in a press release. “The employees are dismayed and worried,” noted the president, Pierre Tousignant, at the end of the meeting.
Radio-Canada and CBC will be forced to abolish a similar number of positions, that is to say around 250, said Ms. Tait. Employees tried to find out, in vain, why the public broadcaster did not take into account the proportion of the budget devoted to CBC (55%) and Radio-Canada (45%) in its cuts.
CBC/Radio-Canada is facing “budgetary pressures” of $125 million, not $100 million, as the boss previously announced. To justify Monday’s announcements, Ms. Tait invoked in the meeting “serious trends” in the industry, such as inflation, “fierce competition from digital giants” as well as “the decline in traditional television revenues.”
The state-owned corporation intends to make 25 million in savings in discretionary spending – sponsorships, marketing, travel – and 40 million in programming budgets, both on the English and French side, “among other things, by reducing the acquisition of content and commissions for independent productions,” Ms Tait explained. “That means fewer new TV and web shows and fewer episodes for some existing shows. »
The STTRC-CSN deplores that CBC/Radio-Canada is “unable to answer basic questions concerning the positions targeted, the services that will be affected and, more generally, the ability to fulfill our mandate as a public broadcaster despite the extent of the anticipated cuts . »
Pierre Tousignant, president of the union, calls on senior management for “clarity” and “transparency” over the coming weeks to “help us get through this difficult period.”
“By wanting to be everywhere, CBC/Radio-Canada takes the risk of being nowhere,” he worries. Radio-Canada cannot do everything, even less try to imitate each of its competitors in the private sector, without undermining its fundamental mission, namely that of ensuring access to information in all regions of the country. […] Priorities will have to be identified. And we want to be part of that discussion. »
On platform “The decline in advertising revenues comes mainly from the English-language network, a decline 4 times more pronounced at the CBC,” he wrote. We cut the same number of employees, even though the budgets and total number of employees on both sides are not the same. In a context where French is in decline and regional news is in crisis in Quebec, this is an inexplicable decision. »
Later, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, also echoed these concerns on X. “This is very bad news for CBC/Radio-Canada,” he tweeted. “It’s also difficult to understand how a competitive channel like that of Radio-Canada can pay so much for CBC’s lack of performance. I will wait for more details on the nature of the positions that will disappear, but of course my thoughts are with the employees who will be affected. This does not bode well for local information in our regions. »
The parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois, Alain Therrien, followed closely behind the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge, during question period. “It’s pretty much the same news as TVA in November,” he recalled. That means that our culture, our feeling of belonging to our region, the quality of information will pay the price. »
He accused the government of having extended Catherine Tait’s mandate to make these cuts. She will continue to serve as President and CEO until January 2, 2025.
“Our government has always been there to support journalists, yes from CBC/Radio-Canada, but from all media in the country,” replied the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pascale St-Onge. This is why we introduced programs to better support them. This is also why we insisted that the digital giants pay their fair share here in Canada. »
Minister St-Onge announced last week that Google will finally agree to pay 100 million per year, indexed, to the media under the Online News Act (C-18).
In its recent economic update, the federal government also increased the journalism labor tax credit from 25% to 35% for the next four years. The eligible salary will increase from $55,000 to $85,000, which equates to a maximum of $28,750 per employee. The cost of this measure is equivalent to 129 million over five years.
The deputy leader of the New Democratic Party, Alexandre Boulerice, sees the cuts at the broadcaster “a threat to democracy”. “I’m worried about these workers, but I’m also worried about the quality of our public debate,” he commented. “If we just have columnists, then there is just opinion, I’m not sure that we will grow out of it as a society. »
Silent on the subject all day, Pierre Poilievre finally reacted scathingly on the social network
“The CBC says it is still strapped for cash and is laying off staff,” the Conservative leader wrote. And this after paying $99 million in bonuses to incompetent executives and liberal spokespeople. I bet none of Trudeau’s favorite spokespeople will be fired – they’ll just get more bonuses. »
The Conservatives want to cut CBC funds by $1 billion if they form a government.
The draconian measure announced Monday is the culmination of a tumultuous autumn in the Maison de Radio-Canada. Already in September, La Presse revealed that Radio-Canada management was circulating the word “cutbacks” during a series of meetings with its employees.
“We recently told [them] that Radio-Canada is currently facing financial pressures,” confirmed the spokesperson for the public broadcaster, Marc Pichette.
“These pressures are largely attributable to the drop in advertising and subscription revenues, the impact of inflation on operating costs and production costs as well as the savings requested by the federal government from departments and to Crown corporations, including CBC/Radio-Canada,” he explained.
At the beginning of October, it was the unexpected departure of Michel Bissonnette, senior vice-president of French Services at Radio-Canada, which made headlines. This “resignation” – according to the official version – took place in a tense context, not only after the divisions between CBC and Radio-Canada around the N-word controversy, but also at the dawn of inevitable cutbacks. .
Two weeks later, in October, Radio-Canada suspended the creation of new positions, according to information first published in Le Devoir.
Then at the beginning of November, Ms. Tait herself confirmed a cut of 100 million in the public broadcaster’s next annual budget, adding that there would be “difficult decisions to make. »
In recent days, media outlets, including La Presse, had obtained information on the approximately 700 positions that would be abolished at Radio-Canada. The president and CEO said she was sorry “for all employees” that the content of the cuts leaked out before the main stakeholders were informed.
The year 2023 will have brought dark months for the media: in addition to the elimination of 547 positions at TVA, we must add the closure of the daily Métro, the end of the paper and the loss of jobs at the Coops de l’information as well as that the decision of Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to block Canadian media in the wake of Bill C-18.
– With Hugo Pilon-Larose, La Presse
