CBC’s board has approved a new, leaner budget, but won’t confirm if layoffs are imminent, says a pubcaster spokesman. ‘We will inform our staff before we go to the media,’ CBC spokesman Marco Dubé told Playback.

The CBC’s board met in the middle of March to discuss a new business plan for the network, which faces a budget shortfall of $125 million in 2009/10. In an earlier interview with Sun Media, Heritage Minister James Moore said that there would likely be between 600 and 1,200 layoffs across the country. Afterwards, Moore’s office would not confirm these figures.

On Quebec talk show Tout le monde en parle, Moore said he believed the CBC should tell Canadian stories and expressed dismay that the pubcaster purchased programs such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune to attract viewers and advertising dollars.

Moore also told Montreal’s French-language daily La Presse that ‘CBC receives more money now than it ever did.’