CBC building on Front and John Street in Toronto, September 6, 2011. (QMI Agency/ALEX UROSEVIC)

GATINEAU, Que. - CBC needs to show greater transparency in the way it spends taxpayer money, Sun Media and its owner, Quebecor, told the CRTC at the public broadcaster’s licence renewal hearings Monday.

Serge Sasseville, vice-president of corporate and institutional affairs at Quebecor Media, recommended the CBC submit quarterly reports on compliance to information requests so taxpayers can “make an informed judgment.”

Michel Drapeau, an access to information expert with Sun Media, complained that most of the 880 information requests over the past five years from journalists asking how its more than $1 billion in annual government funding is being spent, were ignored.

The actor’s union ACTRA also weighed in, questioning how much is spent on management versus programming.

“We believe it is incumbent on the corporation to spend its money where it will have the greatest impact - creating content that Canadians want to see,” national executive director Stephen Waddell told the CRTC hearing.