A veteran Quebec television executive says he will take on the “challenge” of keeping CBC/Radio-Canada relevant after being named the company’s next president and CEO.
Marie-Philippe Bouchard is “charting a path forward” for Canada’s public broadcaster, where controversy over executive bonuses remains amid job cuts under outgoing president Catherine Tate. ” he said he was looking forward to it.
In announcing her appointment on Tuesday, Heritage Canada said Bouchard will become the first francophone woman to head CBC/Radio-Canada when she begins her five-year term on January 3, 2025.
Bouchard said she considers “public service media” around the world to be “a valuable public asset.”
“As society changes rapidly, public broadcasting must continue to build trust to remain important to all Canadians,” Bouchard said in a media statement.
Pascal Saint-Onge, Minister of Culture and Heritage, praised Bouchard in a statement as a “talented and dynamic public broadcasting leader with a track record of transformation.”
Mr. Bouchard has served as President and CEO of TV5 Quebec Canada since 2016 and previously held various management positions at CBC in legal services, strategic planning and regulatory affairs, digital services, and music.
Bouchard will succeed Tait, who has been president of the CBC since 2018 and continues to draw criticism over executive bonuses and a broader agenda of restoring public trust in the broadcaster.
At Monday’s Commons Heritage Committee hearing, Mr Tate said he would not give performance-based pay to staff this year, despite making 141 employees redundant and cutting 205 vacant positions amid budget shortfalls. He claimed to have spent more than $18 million.
Ms Tait said she believed members of the Parliamentary Heritage Committee were using her appearance to “smear” and “discredit” both her and the public broadcaster.
He pushed back against Conservative demands to forego a fiscal exit package, including bonuses, when he leaves office in January.
According to the most recent annual report, Bouchard is part of a committee created by Saint-Onge last May to modernize CBC/Radio-Canada’s mission, and CBC/Radio-Canada has It employs more than 7,000 people from “a variety of backgrounds and cultures.”
The results of that investigation have not yet been published.
Like many broadcasters, the CBC is struggling with declining advertising revenue and declining viewership as digital platforms increasingly dominate the media landscape.
The 2023-2024 annual report said trends over the past decade show traditional television and radio audiences “continue to erode as younger Canadians embrace digital technology.” Ta.
Mr. Saint-Onge said he was confident that Mr. Bouchard would “give a firm hand” to the CBC during “a critical period of modernization.”
