MONTREAL - The cash-strapped CBC will slash nearly 800 full-time jobs, sell or lease some of its real-estate holdings and cut bonuses to managers to make up a massive budget shortfall.
Hubert Lacroix, president of the public broadcaster, told The Canadian Press the move is a last resort that will have an unavoidable effect on programming on the CBC's English and French radio and TV networks.
He described cutting jobs and selling assets as "the worst thing you can do as a manager."
But while he declined to comment on the exact effects to be felt at local levels, Lacroix said no regional stations will be closed.
Lacroix made the announcement to CBC and Radio-Canada staff in a town-hall style meeting on Wednesday, telling them the Crown corporation must cope with a $171-million budget shortfall for 2009-2010.
Lacroix said early retirement will be offered as a first step.
"We hope that by doing it that way that we can minimize and reduce the 800 number," he said, adding it is too early to say how much of the financial crunch can be solved by attrition or how many people might opt for early retirement.
"We hope that it's going to be taken up by a fair percentage of our population."
Salaries of the corporation's roughly 10,000 employees account for 60 per cent of its budget.
The plan is to cut 393 jobs at the CBC, 336 at Radio-Canada and another 70 in corporate support services such as human resources and the legal department.
The layoffs are to begin in mid-May at the earliest, after management assesses how many voluntary retirements it can secure.
All layoffs would be complete by the end of September.
Lacroix said other measures such as accelerating payment of cash and contracts already owed to the corporation as well as selling or leasing property owned by the CBC will be explored. That would affect roughly $125 million in assets.
Canadians will notice the effects of the cuts when they tune in to CBC and Radio-Canada, he said, pointing out that $50 million had been cut from programming.
"You can't take this out without affecting the quality of your schedule, without having to go with more repeats, without having to reduce the number of new dramas that you're going to bring in, cancelling some shows," he said.
Lacroix noted that the lifesyles show "Steven & Chris" had been put on hiatus and the "Fashion File" had been cancelled on CBC. Radio-Canada has axed the popular "Le Match des etoiles," which is a homegrown version of "Dancing With the Stars."
"These are the things that we do and will have to do."
Of the savings the network is trying to find in English programming, 80 per cent will be borne by the network, as opposed to 20 per cent in the regions.
Similarly, English-language television will bear the majority of the cuts at the CBC -- about 80 per cent versus 20 per cent for radio.
Executive salaries are being frozen and Lacroix defended a decision to cut management bonuses by half but not eliminate them for the next fiscal year.
"Unfortunately this is a bad time to talk about performance pay," he said. "We're not AIG. . . .We are just a national public broadcaster right now caught in a really bad squeeze."
He pointed out the bonuses are not automatic and are tied to performance. He said managers will take a significant hit between the cut and the salary freeze.
"Their take-home pay will be at least hit from anywhere between 10 to 20 per cent next year. I think that's a substantial contribution. In fact, it's a $4-million contribution from the 553 managers at CBC-Radio-Canada to the cost-reduction program that we've announced today."
Lacroix told staff CBC was not able to persuade the federal government to give it an advance on future federal appropriations. The Conservative cabinet will still have to approve CBC management's financial plan.
Reaction to the cuts was swift.
The Canadian Media Guild, which represents most CBC employees, lashed out at the federal government for the cuts.
"I blame the loss of 800 jobs squarely on the Conservative government," union president Lise Lareau said.
"This was an entirely avoidable layoff. The Harper government forced the CBC to make these choices over a relatively small amount of money."
Lacroix lamented the cuts, citing historic highs in audience numbers and a new era of co-operation with the unions.
"These were difficult and painful decisions to make -- all the more so given that, in so many ways, this is a golden time for public broadcasting in Canada," he said.
Marc-Philippe Laurin, head of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild, said many people who are eligible to retire early -- and reduce the number of forced layoffs necessary -- might not find it the most attractive proposition.
"They're feeling the economic downturn like everyone else and their RRSPs are worth 50 per cent less than they once were. When you have financial analysts saying it will take five to 10 years to recoup that money, that changes things."
Alex Levasseur, president of the union representing anglophone and francophone employees based in Quebec and Moncton, also blamed the job cuts on the Tories.
"It's them, who for years and years, have continued to strangle the Societe Radio-Canada, continued to try and cut down the public broadcaster as much as possible."
He said CBC wouldn't be forced to axe employees had Ottawa agreed to meet the public broadcaster's request for a $165-million bridge last fall.
Levasseur said the CBC is even more important now as private broadcasters struggle across the country with declining ad revenues. Major Canadian news outlets such as Canwest Global Communications, CTV, Torstar, Sun Media and the Globe and Mail have all cut jobs in recent months.
Ian Morrison, a spokesman for Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, said it's serious whenever a public broadcaster chops eight per cent of its employees.
"What's happened today is going to happen disproportionately in small- and medium-sized centres around the country, and that's the place where Conservative members of Parliament are elected. So the government...is going to have to do something."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced a grilling from the Opposition on Wednesday and said the CBC had been given record financing of $1.1 billion in the last federal budget.
"Obviously broadcasters, both public and private, are having difficulty," Harper said.
"It's a terrible thing when someone loses their job. We'll obviously be monitoring these decisions of the board very carefully to make sure that they respect CBC's mandate and they treat their employees fairly."
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said in a statement the cuts could have been avoided altogether had the Conservatives given the CBC advance payments.
"This inaction has forced CBC-Radio-Canada to make difficult decisions that will have disastrous consequences on its ability to carry out its national mandate," Ignatieff said.
With files from Andy Blatchford in Montreal
