Documents uncovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show that all but two of the BoC’s 82 executives received ‘performance pay’ in 2022
Despite its governor warning business leaders not to factor soaring inflation into worker compensation, Canada’s central bank handed out millions of dollars in bonuses to nearly all of its top executives last year.
According to documents uncovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, all but two of the Bank of Canada’s 82 executives received some sort of “performance pay” in 2022, totalling $3.5 million.
Senior public servants in Canada earn both a base salary and “performance pay” — a two-part compensation program that offers eligible managers an opportunity to earn extra income based on performance metrics.
“The PMP (performance management program) encourages excellent performance in the senior ranks of the public service by recognizing and rewarding the achievement of results linked to business plans and government objectives and the demonstration of leadership competencies,” reads an explainer published by the Government of Canada.
Performance pay consists of “at-risk pay” — a variable amount that must be re-earned each year, and an additional bonus amount if performance goes above and beyond.
At-risk pay for agency heads or governor-in-council appointees ranges from 10.6 to 20.4 per cent, with bonuses between three and eight per cent.
Deputy ministers could earn an additional 20 to 30 per cent of at-risk pay, with bonuses between six and nine per cent, while chief executive officers of Crown corporations can earn at-risk pay bonuses of up to 33 per cent.
The average amount of compensation for each executive works out to around $43,700.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said it makes little sense for central bank executives to be getting large bonuses when so many Canadians are suffering under punishing inflation and cost-of-living increases.
“Executives at the Bank of Canada shouldn’t be showering themselves with big bonuses when Canadians can’t afford gas, groceries or mortgages,” Terrazzano said.
“Most organizations don’t give 98 per cent of their executives bonuses when they have their worst year in four decades.”
Senior management at the Bank of Canada have received nearly $21 million in executive bonuses since 2015.
While speaking at an event last July hosted by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned attendees against triggering a wage-price spiral by using high inflation as an excuse to raise wages.
“Don’t build that into longer-term contracts. Don’t build that into wage contracts. It is going to take some time, but you can be confident that inflation will come down.”
In economics, a wage-price spiral is a theory that blames rising prices on an increase in disposable income brought on by increased wages.
Canada’s consumer price index rose to a 40-year high of 6.8 per cent last year — the largest increase in inflation in over 40 years.
Canada’s current monetary policy framework states the agreement between the government and the Bank of Canada sets inflation targets at “two per cent mid-point of the one to three per cent inflation-control range.”
Last April, Macklem admitted to the Senate banking committee the bank had underestimated how strong inflation would strike Canada, and promised to make things right.
Economists, reported the Financial Post last year, levelled criticism at the central bank for its surprise decision not to hike interest rates last January, with some saying the decision puts the Bank of Canada’s credibility into question.
Last month, the Bank of Canada announced it would hold key interest rates near five per cent until the third quarter of 2024 — but won’t cut them.
Over the summer, the National Post reported that Bank of Canada employees earned $72 million in pay raises since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with $20 million in raises paid out just last year.
In a statement, the Bank of Canada reiterated its use of the performance management program, and that management who meet performance objectives are entitled to bonus pay.
“Our independent Board of Directors oversees the management and administration of the Bank, including our human resources policies,” the statement read. “Like many employers in the financial sector, we hire and retain within a highly competitive environment.”
Braxton Whitehead said Friday he has verbally committed to Arizona State, making him the first member of a Canadian Hockey League team to attempt to play the sport at the Division I U.S. college level since a lawsuit was filed challenging the NCAA’s longstanding ban on players it deems to be professionals.
Whitehead posted on social media he plans to play for the Sun Devils beginning in the 2025-26 season.
An Arizona State spokesperson said the school could not comment on verbal commitments, citing NCAA rules. A message left with the CHL was not immediately returned.
A class-action lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York, could change the landscape for players from the CHL’s Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. NCAA bylaws consider them professional leagues and bar players from there from the college ranks.
Online court records show the NCAA has not made any response to the lawsuit since it was filed.
“We’re pleased that Arizona State has made this decision, and we’re hopeful that our case will result in many other Division I programs following suit and the NCAA eliminating its ban on CHL players,” Stephen Lagos, one of the lawyers who launched the lawsuit, told The Associated Press in an email.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Riley Masterson, of Fort Erie, Ontario, who lost his college eligibility two years ago when, at 16, he appeared in two exhibition games for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. And it lists 10 Division 1 hockey programs, which were selected to show they follow the NCAA’s bylaws in barring current or former CHL players.
CHL players receive a stipend of no more than $600 per month for living expenses, which is not considered as income for tax purposes. College players receive scholarships and now can earn money through endorsements and other use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
The implications of the lawsuit could be far-reaching. If successful, the case could increase competition for college-age talent between North America’s two top producers of NHL draft-eligible players.
“I think that everyone involved in our coaches association is aware of some of the transformational changes that are occurring in collegiate athletics,” Forrest Karr, executive director of American Hockey Coaches Association and Minnesota-Duluth athletic director said last month. “And we are trying to be proactive and trying to learn what we can about those changes.
Karr was not immediately available for comment on Friday.
Earlier this year, Karr established two committees — one each overseeing men’s and women’s hockey — to respond to various questions on eligibility submitted to the group by the NCAA. The men’s committee was scheduled to go over its responses two weeks ago.
Former Minnesota coach and Central Collegiate Hockey Association commissioner Don Lucia said at the time that the lawsuit provides the opportunity for stakeholders to look at the situation.
“I don’t know if it would be necessarily settled through the courts or changes at the NCAA level, but I think the time is certainly fast approaching where some decisions will be made in the near future of what the eligibility will look like for a player that plays in the CHL and NCAA,” Lucia said.
Whitehead, a 20-year-old forward from Alaska who has developed into a point-a-game player, said he plans to play again this season with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League.
“The WHL has given me an incredible opportunity to develop as a player, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Whitehead posted on Instagram.
His addition is the latest boon for Arizona State hockey, a program that has blossomed in the desert far from traditional places like Massachusetts, Minnesota and Michigan since entering Division I in 2015. It has already produced NHL talent, including Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord and Josh Doan, the son of longtime Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who now plays for Utah after that team moved from the Phoenix area to Salt Lake City.
___
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames signed winger Jakob Pelletier to a one-year, two-way contract on Friday.
The contract has an average annual value of US$800,000.
Pelletier, a 23-year-old from Quebec City, split last season with the Flames and American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.
He produced one goal and two assists in 13 games with the Flames.
Calgary drafted the five-foot-nine, 170-pound forward in the first round, 26th overall, of the 2019 NHL draft.
Pelletier has four goals and six assists in 37 career NHL games.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
A community legal clinic in Kingston, Ont., is denouncing the mayor’s calls to clear an encampment and close a supervised consumption site in the city following a series of alleged assaults that left two people dead and one seriously injured.
Kingston police said they were called to an encampment near a safe injection site on Thursday morning, where they allege a 47-year-old male suspect wielded an edged or blunt weapon and attacked three people. Police said he was arrested after officers negotiated with him for several hours.
The suspect is now facing two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
In a social media post, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson said he was “absolutely horrified” by the situation.
“We need to clear the encampment, close this safe injection site and the (Integrated Care Hub) until we can find a better way to support our most vulnerable residents,” he wrote.
The Kingston Community Legal Clinic called Paterson’s comments “premature and misguided” on Friday, arguing that such moves could lead to a rise in overdoses, fewer shelter beds and more homelessness.
In a phone interview, Paterson said the encampment was built around the Integrated Care Hub and safe injection site about three years ago. He said the encampment has created a “dangerous situation” in the area and has frequently been the site of fires, assaults and other public safety concerns.
“We have to find a way to be able to provide the services that people need, being empathetic and compassionate to those struggling with homelessness and mental health and addictions issues,” said Paterson, noting that the safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub are not operated by the city.
“But we cannot turn a blind eye to the very real public safety issues.”
When asked how encampment residents and people who use the services would be supported if the sites were closed, Paterson said the city would work with community partners to “find the best way forward” and introduce short-term and long-term changes.
Keeping the status quo “would be a terrible failure,” he argued.
John Done, executive director of the Kingston Community Legal Clinic, criticized the mayor’s comments and said many of the people residing in the encampment may be particularly vulnerable to overdoses and death. The safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub saves lives, he said.
Taking away those services, he said, would be “irresponsible.”
Done said the legal clinic represented several residents of the encampment when the City of Kingston made a court application last summer to clear the encampment. The court found such an injunction would be unconstitutional, he said.
Done added there’s “no reason” to attach blame while the investigation into Thursday’s attacks is ongoing. The two people who died have been identified as 38-year-old Taylor Wilkinson and 41-year-old John Hood.
“There isn’t going to be a quick, easy solution for the fact of homelessness, drug addictions in Kingston,” Done said. “So I would ask the mayor to do what he’s trained to do, which is to simply pause until we have more information.”
The concern surrounding the safe injection site in Kingston follows a recent shift in Ontario’s approach to the overdose crisis.
Last month, the province announced that it would close 10 supervised consumption sites because they’re too close to schools and daycares, and prohibit any new ones from opening as it moves to an abstinence-based treatment model.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Dolphins will bring in another quarterback, while Tagovailoa deals with concussion
B.C. to scrap consumer carbon tax if federal government drops legal requirement: Eby
David Beckham among soccer dignitaries attending ex-England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson’s funeral
Vancouver Whitecaps cautious of lowly San Jose Earthquakes
A linebacker at West Virginia State is fatally shot on the eve of a game against his old school
Hall of Famer Joe Schmidt, who helped Detroit Lions win 2 NFL titles, dies at 92
Unifor says workers at Walmart warehouse in Mississauga, Ont., vote to join union
Alouettes receiver Philpot announces he’ll be out for the rest of season
