Federal executives continue to collect year-end bonuses at staggering rates even though the payouts are not directly tied to how well departments perform, according to new Treasury Board testimony that has senators questioning whether taxpayers are getting anything close to value.Blacklock's Reporter says Treasury Board report submitted to the Senate national finance committee said federal bonuses are based on “broad, high-level targets,” not the hard performance measures common in the private sector. The explanation came after data showing that most departments routinely reward 90 to 100% of their managers — even in years marked by failure.Sen. Clément Gignac (Que.) pressed officials on why public-sector bonusing appears detached from results. “In the private sector, you know how it works,” he said. “Directors get bonuses based on whether targets are met. How does it work in the public sector?” Comptroller General Annie Boudreau replied only that “various components” determine executive compensation..The Treasury Board’s Follow-Up Responses insisted the system ensures accountability, claiming performance pay “is not an automatic entitlement” and is released only when a manager concludes an executive met the objectives in their annual performance agreement. But the department offered no explanation for the sky-high payout rates.Treasury Board figures show that in 2023, 6,738 executives — “98% across the core public administration” — received a bonus. Some Crown agencies were even more generous. The Canada Infrastructure Bank paid every executive a bonus in 2022 averaging $85,200 each. VIA Rail awarded managers bonuses worth roughly $10,000 apiece during pandemic lockdowns, even as the railway cut 28% of its workforce.A 2019 ruling by the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board found departments cannot withhold pay increments for poor performance. .In a 2024 case, the same board rejected a complaint from a Canada Revenue Agency manager earning $177,000 annually who claimed she was unfairly docked a $4,995 bonus for absenteeism.Parliamentary budget watchdog Yves Giroux has repeatedly warned that federal “performance outcomes” are largely meaningless. At a 2023 committee hearing, Giroux said targets are often crafted by the same public servants responsible for delivering the programs, approved by deputy ministers and rubber-stamped by ministers who “are not very well equipped to challenge their own officials.”Giroux told senators this dynamic leads to executives setting targets that are “not too high” and “not too low,” making them easy to hit even as departments routinely miss many of their own metrics. “So there is a system that is broken,” he said.
