The Trudeau government’s CBC modernization panel, which it stacked with ex-CBC employees, has cost taxpayers $200,000 to date, according to records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. 

Costs include “$70,000 (plus taxes)” paid out to panel members, $83,000 for a private firm to do research and prepare briefing papers, up to $28,000 for “facilitation services” and $13,000 for translation services. 

The total costs could rise even higher, as the work of the modernization panel is ongoing, according to a Canadian Heritage statement sent to the CTF. 

“The feds wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to figure out why the CBC is failing, but they could have saved that money and asked a random person at Tim Hortons,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “If the CBC wanted to build trust with Canadians, here is a place it could start: stop paying millions in bonuses to executives.”

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge launched the seven-person panel to get advice on the future of the CBC, including the amount of taxpayer money it takes.

Panel members such as Marie-Philippe Bouchard, Jennifer McGuire and Loc Dao all previously worked for the CBC, while Jesse Wente is a former CBC contributor.

David Skok, editor-in-chief of The Logic, was the only participant to decline payment for his participation in the panel.

Members of the panel or the organizations they lead have taken millions in federal funding since 2020, according to a CTF analysis of government grants and contracts, as well as access-to-information records. 

The lone panel member with no connection to federal funding is Mike Ananny, a journalism professor from the United States. 

The panel did not hold public consultations, according to access-to-information records obtained by the CTF. 

“I’m sure it was totally a coincidence that most panellists have either worked for CBC or an organization that takes money from taxpayers,” Terrazzano said. “And when this panel inevitably comes back recommending the government dump more taxpayer money into the CBC, it will be another coincidence.

“If the government is looking for a predetermined outcome, it could do it for a lot less than $200,000.”

Canadian Heritage told the CTF the costs for the panel are “about $200,000.” However, this is in direct conflict with access-to-information records the department provided to the CTF. 

Those access-to-information records suggest the total cost of the panel is more than $280,000, including $106,500 for panel members, $133,000 for background documents, $28,815 for “facilitators” and $13,050 for translation services.

“We could estimate at this moment approximate total costs of about $200,000 for the [panel],” Canadian Heritage said in a written statement. “We do not yet know the total and final costs of the project, given that the [panel] process is still ongoing.” 

It took Canadian Heritage 14 days to provide a 226-word statement clarifying the records its own staff released under the access-to-information system. 

“Canadian Heritage sent hundreds of pages of records showing the cost of the panel is $280,000, but now the department says its $200,000,” Terrazzano said. “Does anyone in government know what is going on and how much this is costing taxpayers? The government could have saved itself all this confusion, paperwork and money by asking any of the millions of Canadians who know why the CBC is failing. 

“The only modernization plan the state broadcaster needs is three words long: defund the CBC.”