Local MP Brent Rathgeber’s attempt to pry salary information out of the CBC was set back last week with an answer from the heritage minister that didn’t provide what he was looking for.
Rathgeber put a question on the order paper in December in a bid to get salary information for top CBC talent like Peter Mansbridge and George Stroumboulopoulos, as well as hospitality expenses and the cost of running foreign bureaus.
The answer he received from minister James Moore contained none of that information and only revealed that approximately 730 people at the CBC make more than $100,000.
Order paper questions are given a specific timeline that is usually strictly followed. The CBC has faced several access-to-information requests for similar information, mostly from Conservative news network Sun TV, but access requests can take longer.
Rathgeber said he was unimpressed with the answer and said it is simply a matter of transparency with public funds.
“I maintain that taxpayers who are the shareholders of a corporation have a right to know how that corporation spends its money.”
Rathgeber said the government is clearly heading into a time of fiscal restraint and during such times it is even more important the Canadian public understand what it is paying for.
“As we go forward into a period that is clearly going to be about budgetary restraint, Canadians and parliamentarians can judge whether spending that amount of money for that type of talent is necessary.”
Rathgeber points to the Ontario government, which maintains a “sunshine list,” disclosing the salary of anyone, directly or indirectly on the government payroll, making more than $100,000.
The Ontario government runs a public television station, which discloses as part of the list that one of their top hosts Steve Paikin makes $279,000 a year.
Rathgeber said that disclosure doesn’t hurt Paikin’s career and he hasn’t been taken by a rival network.
He said he also struggles with the CBC citing competitiveness as one of the reasons for not disclosing salary information.
“It is kind of ironic that they are citing competitive reasons for not disclosing their salary when the corporation wasn’t formed to compete,” he said. “It was formed to fill a void, places where private broadcasters would never go or programming they would never air.”
Rathgeber’s original question prompted a response from Tyrone Benskin, a Quebec NDP MP, on the issue who called for salary disclosure of several members of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Benskin received a similar response to his request, but did not get the number of staffers who make over $100,000 in the PMO.
Rathgeber declined to comment on whether that was a sufficient response, because it wasn’t his question, but he said transparency should be across the board.
“The principles are the same, taxpayers are entitled to know how their tax dollars are spent.”
Rathgeber said he is considering two avenues for his next step, either introducing amendments to the broadcast act or challenging the issue as a point of parliamentary privilege.
He points to the Afghan detainee documents that prompted a debate over the rights of parliamentarians two years ago.
“Surely if parliamentarians have a right to see unredacted national security documents, surely they ought to be able to see salary information and hospitality expenses and foreign bureau expenses at the CBC.”
