Quebec TV Exec to Replace Catherine Tait as Head of CBC

Marie-Philippe Bouchard, a seasoned executive from a Quebec news channel, has been tapped to lead Canada’s national public broadcaster.
Bouchard has been president and CEO of TV5 Québec Canada since February 2016, overseeing the TV5 Unis channels and other digital platforms for Francophone audiences in Canada. Before joining TV5 Québec Canada, she held senior executive positions at CBC/Radio-Canada, managing various departments including legal, strategic, and digital services.
Tait has come under scrutiny for announcing significant job cuts at the broadcaster and reporting a financial shortfall while many executives continued to receive bonuses.
Tait testified before the Heritage Committee in January that the public broadcaster has faced “chronic underfunding” while operating across multiple time zones.
MPs questioned Tait about $14.9 million in bonuses awarded to executives last year, despite the reported financial constraints. According to a government response to an Inquiry of Ministry released in May, 46 network executives received a total of $3,020,021 in bonuses, while 1,140 managers received $11,883,734.
Tait described executive compensation as “at-risk or performance pay,” distinguishing it from the end-of-year bonuses common in the private sector. A portion of managerial salaries is withheld and paid only if the organization meets predetermined key performance indicators (KPIs). If the corporation fails to meet its KPIs, part of the “at-risk” compensation is retained, as occurred in the fiscal year 2022-2023 when CBC did not achieve two of its indicators, MPs heard.
Conservative MP Rachael Thomas commented during Tait’s questioning that the performance awards were given despite declining viewership.
“The viewership of the CBC has cut in half since you took leadership in 2018. It has come down by half, so it’s interesting to me that you’re giving bonuses—or performance awards—when, in fact, the CBC is performing the poorest it has ever performed,” Thomas said. “Bonuses keep going up; they keep skyrocketing, but performance, which you say the bonuses granted are based on, is actually declining significantly.”