CBC News is laying off 144 people across the country, shrinking English-language local services in a bid to shave $15 million from its operating costs.
On the French side, Radio-Canada announced 100 job cuts across the country, including 20 vacancies and retirements.
Jennifer McGuire, editor-in-chief of CBC News, announced the English layoffs in a note to staff, which stressed that no stations are being closed and all local radio programming is being maintained.
But there will be significant job losses, including 37 positions in Alberta, 30 in Ontario and 25 in British Columbia.
The cuts are part of a five-year strategy announced last June to shift priorities to mobile and digital offerings.
McGuire admits that “local services will be smaller overall,” but says the relative size of each region remains the same.
“It’s a significant change in our delivery of local news and information — perhaps the largest transformation ever undertaken by CBC in local,” McGuire says in Wednesday’s letter.
Last year, the CBC announced plans to shorten all local supper-hour newscasts to 30 or 60 minutes and broadcast Radio One morning shows on TV beginning next fall.
