A federal judge has ruled the CBC can keep its advertising expenditures secret, siding with the state broadcaster in a legal fight over transparency as it continues to receive $1.6 billion a year in taxpayer funding.Blacklock's Reporter says in a decision by Justice Guy Régimbald of the Federal Court, the judge found that forcing the CBC to release total annual advertising figures from 2020 to 2023 would harm its competitive position and interfere with its operations. The case arose after the Canadian Taxpayers Federation sought disclosure under the Access To Information Act while CBC executives were publicly citing financial hardship.“I find that disclosing the requested records would cause prejudice to the CBC and impair its proper functioning,” Régimbald wrote, adding that publication of the totals could “compromise CBC’s competitive position in the markets.”The taxpayers’ group had requested aggregate figures showing how much the Crown corporation spent on advertising each year during the period in question. At the same time, CBC management was lobbying for increased public funding and warning of budget pressures.According to the ruling, CBC argued that revealing its total advertising expenditures would allow private-sector competitors in television and online markets to build predictive models, refine business strategies and gain an unfair advantage. .The broadcaster also maintained that disclosure could trigger political interference or pressure to alter its spending decisions.The court went further, stating there was no evidence that the broadcaster’s aggregate advertising spending was a matter of public importance. Régimbald noted that defunding the CBC is a stated objective of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and concluded that releasing the information was not necessary to permit meaningful public debate over CBC funding.While acknowledging that access to information laws are intended to promote accountability for publicly funded institutions, the judge wrote that transparency “is not absolute.”"We are carefully reviewing the decision, including our right to appeal," said Devin Drover, lawyer for the CTF"The CBC takes more than a billion dollars from taxpayers every year and Canadians deserve full transparency about how that money is being spent.""We will keep pushing for real accountability and transparency on how the federal government, including the CBC, spends Canadians’ hard-earned money."The dispute follows years of controversy over CBC finances. .During the 2020 pandemic, the broadcaster cut programming and laid off 141 employees, citing financial strain. It later disclosed paying $14.9 million in annual bonuses to senior managers and covering a five-star Paris hotel stay billed at $1,000 a night for then-CEO Catherine Tait, whose annual salary was $497,000.Tait, appearing before the House of Commons heritage committee in 2024, complained that scrutiny of the broadcaster’s spending was being used to undermine public broadcasting. She argued that eliminating executive perks would not resolve what she described as a structural deficit at the CBC.“There is a clear effort on the part of members of this committee to vilify and discredit me and discredit the organization,” Tait testified. “Not one question has been asked about the accomplishments of the public broadcaster over the last six years.”
