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CBC staffers get Scrooged this season

First they learned there would be no CBC Vancouver Christmas party this year. A few days later, on Nov. 21, staffers received an email from CBC/Radio-Canada President and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix with the subject line: “Seeing our way through tough financial times.”

In the email Lacroix said that CBC English Services faces a “$45 million budget shortfall” due to the “ever-expanding economic crisis.” CBC’s French side was still tallying its damage.

Lacroix reminded that CanWest is cutting 560 jobs and CTV likely will see layoffs, too. Throughout the industry, “ad spending is dwindling; in fact, some of the traditionally biggest ad spenders are on the verge of corporate meltdowns, GM for example. And that’s taking its toll.”

At the CBC, “Our revenue streams are taking a hit; we are currently projecting a deficit in our television operations, though not to the extent of our competitors, and our levels of federal funding are never guaranteed.”

Lacroix said CBC isn’t laying anyone off…yet. “Changing circumstances might over time challenge us in this regard.”

In the meantime, the CBC is looking for savings by doing “a full-scale review of our planned capital expenditures to see if there are things we can reasonably defer or cancel,” implementing “strict hiring controls” and reviewing all new hires “case-by-case at the vice-presidential level.”

That and deep cuts to “travel, hospitality and duty entertainment” along with further cuts to overtime expenditures.

“In other words,” said Lacroix, “if it’s discretionary, it’s gone. If it’s anything less than a bona fide requirement, it’s gone. If it’s not absolutely strategic, it's gone.”

Getting drunk with your colleagues on the company tab at Christmas? Apparently, not absolutely strategic. Gone.

“We have a lot to celebrate this year. We are going to have to do it in our meeting rooms and boardrooms.”

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.

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