A federal bank, Farm Credit Canada of Regina, paid bonuses to every senior manager through three years of pandemic, records show. The bank was one of nine federal agencies to pay 100% of executives a bonus year after year..“Members are eligible for performance pay based on the extent to which they meet the commitments outlined in their annual performance agreements and demonstrate key leadership competencies,” the Treasury Board wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons. “Individual pay is not related to departmental results.”.The bonuses weren’t supposed to be entitlements, wrote the Board. “Performance pay is an important component of executives’ total compensation package and must be re-earned each year,” said the Inquiry. “The at-risk nature of performance pay helps hold executives accountable for delivery of results and excellence in leadership.”.Data were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Brad Redekopp (Saskatoon West, SK) who asked, “How many senior managers received full performance pay?” At Farm Credit, all 27 senior managers received annual bonuses since 2019..Others companies where every manager received a bonus included the Atlantic Pilotage Authority, Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health, Defence Construction Canada, Laurentian Pilotage Authority, Marine Atlantic and the National Arts Centre..The Bank of Canada refused to disclose how many of its 79 managers collected pandemic bonuses. “Disclosure may present a risk of compromising privacy and confidentiality,” it said. The Royal Canadian Mint and Canada Infrastructure Bank also withheld figures..Other federal offices reported few if any managers collected a bonus since 2019. Of 224 senior managers at the National Research Council as few as five received full bonuses. Only four of 23 senior managers at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council were paid bonuses. Performance pay at the National Capital Commission was awarded to one or two of 25 senior managers over the past three years..Treasury Board guidelines set bonus rates at 15 to 39% of salary. The Government of Canada does not disclose a Sunshine List detailing actual payments to six-figure employees by name. MPs in 2013 rejected Bill C-461 An Act To Amend The Access To Information Act that would have mandated the naming of employees earning more than $188,000 a year..“The government pays these people a lot of money,” then-Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber (Edmonton-St. Albert, AB), sponsor of the bill, said at the time. “Perhaps they would prefer that taxpayers remain unmindful of that.”
