OPINION: CBC must respect taxpayers’ rights to demand accountability

CBC should release every contract, invoice, receipt and email tied to the comedy program that humiliated serving and retired RCMP members

Published May 30, 2026  •  Last updated 17 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) building signage in Ottawa. Photo by Hyungcheol Park /Postmedia Network

By KRIS SIMS and TODD MACKAY

CBC has developed a bad habit of wasting taxpayers’ money and hiding it – but there’s a zero per cent chance it’ll be able hide this one.

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CBC needs to release every contract, invoice, receipt and email associated with the so-called comedy program that humiliated serving and retired members of the RCMP.

Taxpayers have a right to know exactly how much money the CBC wasted on that scandal and they have a right to know who was responsible for it.

CBC needs to come clean out of principle.

On the off chance it can’t summon that commitment to principle, CBC should disclose out of obvious self-interest. The access to information requests are already submitted to get every page. It’s all coming out anyway.

CBC‘s only real choice is whether it wants to do this the easy way or the hard way.

So far, the strategy of the bloated management at CBC has been to duck under a desk and hope it blows over.

That hasn’t worked in the past and it damn sure won’t work this time.

Active-duty Mounties and retired cops say a fake TV crew tricked them into travelling to the CBC studio in Vancouver with the promise of a show that would “celebrate their service.”

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Mounties say they had their phones taken away and they were suddenly harangued with on-camera accusations from people in attendance.

Union warning Mounties to avoid CBC

Canada’s biggest police union is warning active-duty Mounties and retired veterans to avoid CBC.

“Don’t accept an invitation from APTN or CBC to celebrate your service, because it’s a ruse,” said Brian Sauve, founder and president of the National Police Federation, representing nearly 20,000 active duty and retired RCMP.

“If they (police) were not free to leave, then maybe we are talking about forcible confinement,” Sauve told the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in an interview.

Cops in Canada’s national police force don’t trust Canada’s national state broadcaster.

Duck-and-cover won’t work this time, and, if CBC‘s honest with itself, there’s a pattern of failure with this strategy.

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When the CBC handed-out tens of millions of dollars in bonuses every year while its ratings dropped like a rock, the state broadcaster got into hot water with taxpayers and its own news anchor.

Former CBC CEO Catharine Tait was grilled on CBC‘s national newscast after the national public broadcaster announced it would be laying people off.

“The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, through an FOI request, showed $16 million were paid in bonuses in 2022, can we establish that is not happening this year?” Adrienne Arsenault asked her boss in December 2023.

“I am not going to comment on something that hasn’t been discussed at this point,” Tait replied.

Back at committee, CBC was still trying to duck – this time it was trying to deflect questions when members of Parliament asked about its dismal ratings.

CBC‘s news channel has an audience share of 1.7%. That means about 98% of Canadians who are watching TV are choosing to watch something else.

CBC‘s main TV channel also has dismal ratings, even in primetime hours. CBC television has an audience share of 3.6%. That means about 96% of people are watching something else.

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No big deal, Tait told the committee, CBC makes up for that with subscriptions to its online streaming app, CBC Gem.

“About two million English Canadians tune in to Gem,” Catherine Tait told the committee.

It’s not known if that meant two million people had ever seen Gem, or had downloaded Gem, or if two million people are watching it right now.

Since then, CBC has spent $59,000 in legal fees, fighting in court, refusing to say how many subscribers it has for CBC Gem.

The debate will continue about whether to defund CBC.

Here’s a point where all sides agree: CBC needs to stop hiding things and respect taxpayers’ rights to demand accountability and transparency.

– Kris Sims is the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director and a former member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Todd MacKay is the Vice President of Communications for the CTF.

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