TORONTO — CBC says it is laying off more than 60 people in locations across Canada by the end of the year as part of a restructuring that affects about 130 jobs.
Barb Williams, CBC's executive vice-president of English services, says in a note to staff provided to The Canadian Press that the changes to resize the business were necessary due to higher costs and lower revenue.
She says that the CBC created a "COVID-19 contingency budget" to deal with the pandemic, but that didn't change its ongoing financial situation, noting it entered the current fiscal year with a $21 million deficit due to lower advertising and subscription revenues.
CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson says a total of 130 positions from various departments at CBC are affected but most of the employees were dealt with through retirements and attrition. He says 58 positions in the news, current affairs and local news divisions were affected but only 19 people, members of the Canadian Media Guild, were laid off.
He says 21 other CMG members were let go from across other CBC divisions. Meanwhile, 11 people affiliated with the Association of Professionals and Supervisors union were also let go, along with about 10 non-unionized managerial positions.
While five CBC locations across the country are affected, most of the cuts are to positions based in Toronto.
"As a result of some necessary changes with respect to resizing our business, a number of positions from within the organization will no longer be a part of our workforce come the end of the calendar year," said Williams in the note to staff.
"Every year, our costs go up as revenue generation in traditional media goes in the other direction and, not surprisingly, we have seen that even more acutely this fiscal with the global pandemic."
CBC and Radio-Canada have about 7,500 employees.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2020.
The Canadian Press
