Veteran broadcaster Marie-Philippe Bouchard was named the next president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada on Tuesday.Supplied
Quebec broadcasting executive Marie-Philippe Bouchard, who was appointed as the new chief of CBC/Radio-Canada on Tuesday, says she aims to make the public broadcaster “even better” when she takes over from Catherine Tait in January.
Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, announced that Ms. Bouchard will begin a five-year term at the helm of Canada’s public broadcaster, praising her as a “talented, strong public broadcasting leader with a proven record of transformation.”
Since 2016, Ms. Bouchard has been president and chief executive of TV5 Québec Canada, a non-profit broadcasting organization that focuses on francophone content from across Canada and French-speaking countries around the world.
Prior to that, the lawyer by training served at CBC/Radio-Canada in a variety of management and senior executive positions from legal services to strategic planning and regulatory affairs. She will be the first francophone woman to head the public broadcaster.
Recently, Ms. Bouchard sat on a panel of seven experts who advised the Heritage Minister on the modernization of the mandate of the CBC. The results of that review have not been made public.
Ms. St-Onge, who appointed Ms. Bouchard from a shortlist of candidates selected by an independent panel, told reporters she thought the new CEO would be “well equipped to be able to deal with the pressure that comes with this title.”
“I know that the challenge is going to be big, especially in the current context, but I think she’s the right person to be able to lead CBC/Radio-Canada through this period,” she said.
Ms. Bouchard said in a statement that public broadcasting, where she has spent her career, “is at a pivotal moment in its evolution.”
“For the millions of Canadians who rely on the public broadcaster’s services, I am looking forward to working with all partners to make it even better,” she said.
But broadcasting experts warned that she has her work cut out for her. Monica Auer, executive director of the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, who used to work at CBC, said CBC/Radio Canada “faces enormous challenges.”
“CBC is diverting a great deal of its parliamentary appropriation to supporting online services without clear results showing that the services are reaching Canadians,” she said.
The federal government is working on renewing CBC’s mandate, which will include framing long-term plans for the public broadcaster’s governance and financing. It allocated $1.4-billion in funding to CBC/Radio-Canada this fiscal year.
But last December, Ms. Tait warned that hundreds of looming job losses may be on the horizon owing to a projected financial shortfall. The 800 projected job cuts did not happen after the government allocated a further $42-million in the April federal budget to support CBC programming.
On Monday, MPs on the Commons heritage committee grilled Ms. Tait over the award of millions of dollars in staff bonuses. The corporation paid $18.4-million in bonuses to 1,194 employees for the 2023-24 fiscal year, after the broadcaster met performance indicators.
Conservatives on the committee also criticized Ms. Tait for not committing to forgo an exit package, including bonuses from past fiscal years and a severance payment, when she leaves in January. She declined to do so saying it was a personal matter.
Conservative MP Damien Kurek made a statement in the House of Commons on Tuesday further criticizing her for her refusal to reject an exit package. He said the bonuses paid to some CBC executives were more than some ordinary Canadians earn.
Conservative heritage critic Rachael Thomas said in a statement that “a new CEO won’t change anything” including “plummeting viewership.”
In an e-mail, she repeated the Conservatives’ pledge to defund the CBC, while preserving French services, saying the Conservatives would “turn the CBC headquarters into beautiful homes for Canadian families.”
But Marla Boltman, executive director of Friends of Canadian Media, welcomed Ms. Bouchard’s appointment, saying “with a new leader comes a fresh start.”
“We hope politicians of all political stripes will use this opportunity to engage in a healthy discourse about the essential role that public service media plays in the lives of all Canadians,” she said.
She also praised Ms. Tait for her dedication to the job. “While we may not have always agreed on how to best fulfill CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate, we appreciate her unstinting defence of our national public broadcaster and wish her well.”
Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the Canadian Media Producers Association, congratulated Ms. Bouchard on her appointment and also thanked Ms. Tait for her leadership and “steadfast belief in the importance of supporting Canadian stories throughout her tenure.”