After cancelling its taxpayer-funded bonuses, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation handed out record high pay raises of $37.7 million in 2024-25, according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“The CBC isn’t saving people money if it’s replacing taxpayer-funded bonuses with higher taxpayer-funded pay raises,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “CBC misunderstood the assignment and learned nothing from the outrage it received across the political spectrum.

“Taxpayers don’t care what the extra pay is called, taxpayers want the CBC to stop wasting so much money.”

Earlier this year, the CBC admitted it was going to increase salaries instead of handing out bonuses.

“The Board of Directors, with the advice and concurrence of the President and CEO, has decided to discontinue individual performance pay,” the CBC announced on May 14, 2025. “In order to keep overall compensation at the current median level, salaries of those affected will be adjusted to reflect the elimination of individual performance pay.”

The CBC did not hand out bonuses in 2024-25, according to records obtained by the CTF.

Instead, the CBC handed out record-high pay raises.

The CBC handed out $37.7 million in pay raises to 6,295 employees in 2024-25 for an average raise of about $6,000 each. No employees received a pay cut, according to the records.

At $37.7 million, this recent round of pay raises cost significantly more than raises in previous years. For context, the CBC handed out $11.5 million in raises in 2023-24.

The higher pay raises more than offset the elimination of the bonuses, which the CBC cancelled following massive public backlash across the political spectrum.

Last year, the CTF released Leger polling showing seven-in-10 Canadians opposed CBC bonuses.

Even Friends of Canadian Media, an advocacy organization that believes “Canadians deserve a strong and vital CBC,” spoke out against the bonuses.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about CBC/Radio-Canada’s decision to award $18 million in bonuses, just months after the announcement of significant job cuts,” said Marla Boltman, Executive Director of Friends of Canadian Media, in a newsletter. “This decision is deeply out of touch and unbefitting of our national public broadcaster.”

The CTF reached out to the CBC for an explanation about the record-high pay raises in 2024-25. The CBC failed to provide an explanation.

“The CBC is using sleight of hand,” Terrazzano said. “It’s not saving taxpayers money by jacking up salaries, it’s just giving employees built-in bonuses instead.

“The CBC didn’t listen to Canadians, it isn’t saving taxpayers’ money and it’s clear the CBC is just trying to avoid bad press.”

The CBC will cost taxpayers more than $1.4 billion this year, according to the Main Estimates.

The number of employees collecting six-figure salaries has also ballooned at the state broadcaster, according to separate access-to-information records obtained by the CTF.

In 2024-25, 1,831 CBC employees took a six-figure salary. Those salaries cost taxpayers about $240 million, for an average salary of $131,060 for those employees.

In 2015-16, 438 CBC employees took home six-figure salaries, for a total cost to taxpayers of about $59.6 million. 

The number of CBC staffers with a six-figure salary increased 17 per cent over the last year and 318 per cent since 2015.

“If Prime Minister Mark Carney is serious about saving money, then he needs to step in and put an end to the CBC gravy train,” Terrazzano said. “Or better yet, Carney should defund the CBC.”