Canada's national public broadcaster will cut 800 full-time jobs, or about 8 percent of its work force, in a bid to balance its budget, the president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said Wednesday.
Hubert Lacroix told employees the radio and TV broadcaster is facing a budget shortfall of 171 million Canadian dollars ($139 million) this fiscal year.
He said the plan for making it through its financial crisis involves coming up with 171 million Canadian dollars ($139 million) in savings and selling assets to raise about 125 million Canadian dollars ($101 million).
He said the job cuts will help balance the budget while trying to keep local stations open.
"We've done and will continue to do everything we can to minimize the impact of the situation on our staff. But in a company where 60 percent of the overall budget goes to salaries, it's simply impossible to bridge a gap of this magnitude without having a major impact on people."
The CBC had been unsuccessful at convincing the federal government to give it an advance on future federal appropriations, Lacroix told thousands of employees via closed-circuit TV and teleconference.
The plan is to cut about 400 jobs at the CBC, about 330 at Radio-Canada and another 70 corporate positions. The company has an employee base of 9,857, said CBC spokesman Angus McKinnon.
The budget for cbc.ca, the company's popular website, would increase.
The layoffs are to begin in mid-May after management assesses how many voluntary retirements it can secure. All layoffs would be complete by the end of September, Lacroix said.
Executive salaries are being frozen at the CBC, but Lacroix maintained during the call that management bonuses would only be reduced by half and not eliminated for the next fiscal year.
