Access to Information records revealed the CBC paid for a $75,000-a-year executive chauffeur.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, this job was removed in 2020 to save money during the pandemic.Asked for “the total amount spent on personal drivers and vehicles for CBC’s senior executive team,” CBC management disclosed it kept a single chauffeur on staff at a salary of $75,602 a year. “The full-time position was abolished in 2020 due to COVID,” said the Access document.“The services were contracted on an as-requested basis in 2022,” wrote management.The network did not reveal which executive was given a chauffeur. They also did not share the type and model of the cars that the CBC management used with the chauffeur.At the time, CBC complained of “immense pressure” on its finances. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of covering it put immense pressure on CBC’s workforce, operations, finances and systems,” said a 2021 department of heritage briefing note Funding Support for the CBC.The pandemic saw quarterly television advertising revenue fall as much as 20% compared to the same period in 2019. “It is anticipated the effects of COVID-19 will persist,” management wrote in one quarterly financial report.Management stated the pandemic as the reason for stopping local TV news shows at dinner time for the first time since 1952, which was against its broadcast license rules. They also had 80% of their workers do their jobs from home.“Less than 20% of employees, mainly those involved with essential operations such as news presentation and news gathering, reintegrated into our offices,” said a 2020 First Quarter Financial Report.Access to Information records revealed that executives got millions in extra bonuses at that time. In 2020, $15,013,838 in bonuses were given to 1,034 employees, which is about $14,520 per person. In 2021, bonuses totalling $15,398,101 were paid to 1,033 employees, averaging about $14,906 each.Records showed that the CBC paid 144 corporate directors salaries in the six-figure range. This group included 10 people working in “legal services,” 11 in finance, 25 in technology, 41 in English-language radio and TV, and 45 in French-language services.The average yearly pay for the 144 executives was $135,388, not including extra money for bonuses and expenses.“We invent ourselves every year to try to find new ways to do things because we have to offer more but with a smaller budget,” Michel Bissonnette, one of the seven CBC vice presidents, testified at 2019 hearings of the Commons Heritage committee.
