Source: Inside the CBC

This is the complete text of CBC President Hubert Lacroix's note to CBC staff on the federal budget that was tabled yesterday. Lacroix says he's pleased that the ceeb's budget wasn't cut like other departments, however there are other issues affecting the CBC's finances.

    March 5, 2010 – The Federal Budget was tabled yesterday. While we're still studying details, I wanted to share my initial response to what the Budget means for CBC/Radio-Canada.

    First and foremost, I am very happy with the Government's support of CBC/Radio-Canada in the context of the Strategic Review initiative. As you may remember, we were asked to review the performance of all of our services and to identify 5 per cent of our budget that could have been reallocated elsewhere by Government. After reviewing us, the Government concluded that, “…reallocations were not necessary as programs delivered by [CBC/Radio-Canada] are aligned with the priorities of Canadians.”

    This is good news for us. You should know that our Minister, the Hon. James Moore, really went to bat for us on this file and supported our position; I am very grateful to him (and his staff) for standing up for us in these difficult economic times. I'm also very pleased with the government's endorsement of our services. It's a great vote of confidence that I think we can all be proud of.

    The continued stability in our funding will help us complete the two-year recovery plan we implemented last March.

    You have no doubt heard about the Government's three-year freeze on funding for salary increases. We understand that this measure will extend to CBC/Radio-Canada. It means that each organization will have to find its own way to manage the budget implications of this freeze. We will be studying what that means for us.

    There are a number of other issues affecting our finances that we should learn more about in the coming weeks, but I wanted to share the conclusion of the Strategic Review with you immediately.

    Cheers.

    Hubert

© Inside the CBC