The Hook

The CBC must find $50 million in its budget that could potentially be cut or redirected.

Corporation president Hubert Lacroix told employees in a memo late Friday that the broadcaster will not be spared from a government-mandated spending review for next year's budget.

The so-called strategic review requires all departments, agencies and Crown corporations to tell the government what programs and operations are the lowest priority.

That bottom five per cent of the budget can either be reallocated within the organization or cut.

"I'm not going to speculate about the outcome or the impact that this could possibly have on our 2010-2011 appropriation and budget. We are just starting the review," Lacroix said in the memo. "We will put forward proposals as part of the budget process and the results will be part of budget 2010."

The CBC is facing a $171 million shortfall this year and a resulting 800 layoffs, partly due to a sharp decline in advertising. Lacroix said a steering committee at the CBC would give the government the results of its internal review over the next few weeks.

"Hang in there," Lacroix said at the end of his memo.

Heritage Minister James Moore told a parliamentary committee last week that the government would not cut the CBC's budget.

A spokeswoman for Moore said Monday that the CBC has known for some time that its turn has come for the review. All departments take turns implementing the review every four years.

Deirdra McCracken emphasized that the review does not necessarily mean a cut to a budget, but instead a redirection of funds into other, higher priority areas.

The advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has accused Moore of misleading MPs about cuts to the CBC.