“End the madness. Recall the committee. Defund the CBC.” Credit where it’s due to Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives for writing for radio, as I was taught at a CBC skills course many years ago: short and sharp, three beats, implied subject-verb-object.

The Tories are mad for this gimmick: axe the tax, build the homes, bring it home, fix the budget, stop the crime. It’s addictive and direct and Trumpy, apt to “win the vote” for them, and thus presenting, among other things, a direct existential threat to the CBC. It’s a threat that, starting this month, Catherine Tait, the outgoing president, CEO, and poster-person for bloated bureaucracy, gets to pass on to her successor, Marie-Philippe Bouchard, who hasn’t ticked off anyone significant—yet.

The quote I opened with is from Conservative MP Rachael Thomas of Lethbridge, shadow minister for Canadian Heritage, who will oversee the dismantling of the CBC in a Poilievre government. The “madness,” as Thomas framed it on social media in August 2024—the preferred means of communication for Conservative MPs in place of journalism—is $18.4 million in bonuses for 1,194 employees and executives as approved by the CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors for the past fiscal year. This likely included a bonus for Tait, who defended the decision, reportedly claiming that CBC executives and managers are paid about half what they would be for the same private sector positions.

In October, the House (in fact, the Bloc, New Democratic Party, and Conservative members) agreed to call back the heritage committee for another go at the question: Do CBC managers deserve this bonus in light of cutbacks of hundreds of jobs last year? “While Canadians struggle to afford basic necessities like food and rent,” Thomas said in the same social media post, “CBC executives are rewarding themselves . . . despite their failing performance.” The MPs also asked the committee to invite Bouchard, who appeared before it in November.

What does “failing performance” mean? The ground is thick with surveys on the CBC and what Canadians think of it, but it’s also a question of how we judge and reward bureaucrats in civil society. Short answer: it depends on who you’re talking to. To a free-market advocate, rewards signify value in the private sector, while the public sector—which generates no shareholder weath—is........

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