MONTREAL (AP):

Canada's national public broadcaster will cut 800 full-time jobs, or about eight per cent of its workforce, in a bid to balance its budget, the president of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said yesterday.

Hubert Lacroix told employees the radio and TV broadcaster is facing a budget shortfall of 171 million Canadian dollars (US$139 million) this fiscal year. He said the plan for making it through its financial crisis involves coming up with CA$171 million (US$139 million) in savings and selling assets to raise about CA$125 million (US$101 million).

He said the job cuts will help balance the budget while trying to keep local stations open.

"We've done and will continue to do everything we can to minimise the impact of the situation on our staff. But in a company where 60 per cent of the overall budget goes to salaries, it's simply impossible to bridge a gap of this magnitude without having a major impact on people."

The CBC had been unsuccessful at convincing the federal government to give it an advance on future federal appropriations, Lacroix told thousands of employees via closed-circuit TV and teleconference