The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / CBC May Still Endure Millions Of Dollars In Cuts Despite Liberal Win

**Posted by RadioActive** July 16, 2025 7:51 pm

Canada's recently elected P.M., Mark Carney, has vowed to cut the fat in government and get sometimes profligate spending under control. So despite promising his party would give the CBC $150 million in additional funding, he's now asking various departments for ways to reduce costs. In the case of the CBC, that could come to as much as $198 million. So even if the promised 150-mill comes, that still leaves a reduction of almost $50 million.

Still, it's not a fait accompli. But this drama isn't over. Yet.

From the Toronto Star:

"Marie-Philippe Bouchard, the CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, said in an email to employees Tuesday that the government has asked the public broadcaster and other Crown corporations to propose spending reductions as well, meaning CBC will have to find up to $198 million in annual savings in three years.

"Reductions of this size, if implemented, would have an impact on some jobs,” Bouchard said in the internal memo, which was obtained by the Star. “However, it is important to remember that at this point we have been asked to develop proposals only. All of the proposals will be assessed by the government and final decisions...made public early next year."

Will the Corp. cutbacks happen in the near future? That's a mystery that even Murdoch may not be able to solve.

Suggest your own spending cuts, Carney government tells CBC

**Posted by RadioAaron** July 16, 2025 7:59 pm

I'd assume the funding promise is moot and that they'll have to find the full savings.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** July 17, 2025 7:24 am

Eight years ago, I was on contract with the CBC and to be honest, I could not believe how bloated it was staff-wise. Compared to private broadcasters, they had triple the amount of people that would normally staff the department I was with, and heavily unionized, so stay in step.

CBC radio is still top notch but the TV side has lost relevance, and viewers, I watched one show on the CBC last season and that’s it. 20 plus years ago I watched more but I think the programming was better then, or my standards were lower!

**Posted by TomTV** July 17, 2025 10:26 am

I think the moment Canada agreed to boost its NATO military spending (in order to appease Trump) it was a given that any promised spending was not going to happen. Cuts are coming no doubt.

If they want to save some cash and spare my ears, they can let go of Rosie Barton...

**Posted by Binson Echorec** July 17, 2025 10:32 am

I got a tour of 250 Front Street West once. A couple of things caught me off guard:

1 - the number of empty desks. There is no way they need that much space now and it's still got bloat.
2 - how quiet the place was. Nearly everyone sitting at a desk was wearing headphones and tending to their work. There was virtually zero kibbitzing or camaraderie evident. Rather odd for an open concept environment.

Every other broadcast office I'd been in was loud, boisterous, and generally gave off a positive vibe. That vibe was nowhere to be found at CBC HQ.

**Posted by Plate Voltage** July 18, 2025 5:21 pm

Binson Echorec wrote:
I got a tour of 250 Front Street West once. A couple of things caught me off guard:

1 - the number of empty desks. There is no way they need that much space now and it's still got bloat.
2 - how quiet the place was. Nearly everyone sitting at a desk was wearing headphones and tending to their work. There was virtually zero kibbitzing or camaraderie evident. Rather odd for an open concept environment.

Every other broadcast office I'd been in was loud, boisterous, and generally gave off a positive vibe. That vibe was nowhere to be found at CBC HQ.

I had a tour with a friend who works at CBC a while ago and I noticed the exact same things. One other thing stuck out at me though. None of the desks I saw had pictures of anybody's families. The whole place had a strange chill to it.

**Posted by RadioActive** July 18, 2025 7:06 pm

I have a weird CBC story that happened a long time ago. I was between jobs, as they say, and was desperate enough to apply to the Corp. for what I believe was an opening on As It Happens.

I went downtown to their HQ and met with one of the producers. They were impressed by my experience with another show on another station and told me to go home, listen to the show and come back with criticism and what I thought they could do better. So I did. I listened for several days, took notes and wrote down a few areas that I was sure could be improved. Nothing terribly critical, but still room for improvement in my opinion.

Well, I went back to meet the same guy seven days later and laid out the very faults he'd asked me to list. And he hated and rejected everything I said without even considering any of them. I quickly realized he didn't want to hear a single word of criticism about his precious show and he'd deliberately wasted my time. If I'd have come back and told him his program was so great, there was nothing to improve, I probably would have been hired.

I'm glad it didn't happen. I ended up with a much better job in TV news, where I became pretty successful. It's just one of many reasons my opinion of the CBC as a bloated waste of money is so solidified. They get way too much and have far more people than the private sector and yet turn out so little that people want to watch. A cutback might be the best thing that ever happened to them.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** July 19, 2025 7:03 am

I find it interesting to read that the word “bloated” is often present when the CBC is mentioned on our SOWNY board!

**Posted by Binson Echorec** July 19, 2025 12:17 pm

It's pretty easy/common to attach the word "bloat" to anything government related or government adjacent.

**Posted by newsguy1** July 19, 2025 2:54 pm

Years ago I took the standard CBC announcer's test (yes there was such a thing).
It was written and devised by a stuffy old English guy named George Rich.
One of the sections was a bit where you had to read a description of a small English town.
The idea was to give it some emotion and meaning.
I thought I did that.
When Rich heard my read he became testy and told me I did not read it the right way -- and he should know because the passage described the small town he grew up in, and I didn't give it the right feeling at all.
I also pissed him off when I failed in pronouncing several words the way he dictated.
One of the words was flaccid, which anyone I knew pronounced FLAS-id.
But know, he wanted the strict rules of grammar.
He wanted FLAK-sid.
I had the gall to point out that I had never heard anyone use his pronunciation -- including the CBC's god at the time, Knowlton Nash.
He bristled and his face turned red.
I failed the test and never attempted it again.
Oh yeah, he also wanted the Spanish word junta pronounced JUN-tah. not HOON-tah.