CBC head spars with Conservative MPs as she testifies about executive bonuses

An appearance by the CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. at a Parliamentary committee turned personal Tuesday, even before Catherine Tait faced a barrage of questions from Conservative MPs over executive bonuses.

Before Tait's testimony, the public broadcaster published a letter it had sent to the committee chair in March, which accused Conservative MPs of deliberately spreading false accusations about the company and Tait.

The same letter was handed out to media by a CBC executive prior to the meeting.

The letter said «deliberately false accusations» have been damaging to Tait's reputation and that of the CBC. It singled out Conservative MPs Kevin Waugh and Rachael Thomas for comments they had made.

Both had accused Tait of lying and misleading the committee about executive bonuses during a previous meeting.

Executive bonuses have been a focal point of the committee's work as it studies recent job cuts made within CBC/Radio-Canada.

During one exchange with Thomas over the timing of a decision on whether executives will get a bonus this year, Tait rejected claims that she was misleading the committee.

«Either you lied on January 30 or you're lying now,» Thomas said.

Tait previously told the committee a decision over bonuses would begin in March, at the end of the fiscal year. But during Tuesday's committee meeting Thomas, her party's heritage critic, took umbrage when Tait had no updates.

«I really take objection to being called a liar, which has happened several times. This is not the first time I have been called a liar by certain members of this committee,» Tait said speaking to Thomas.

«This is the first time in 40 years anybody has addressed me in this way,» Tait said, speaking to Thomas.

Following the meeting, Tait said