This is an archive of news stories and research from the National Union of Public and General Employees. Please see our new site - https://nupge.ca - for the most current information.
'They lost $24 billion and they wiped out the last four years of contributions in that loss.'
Ottawa (19 June 2009) - Members of Parliament have told the Harper government to claw back $7 million in bonus payments to top Canada Pension Plan executives.
A motion presented by the New Democratic Party, and passed with all-party-support, calls on the government to recover so-called performance bonuses paid to top executives at the CPP Investment Board despite their presiding over massive investment losses last year. It would also ban any future payouts of a similar nature.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) called earlier for goverment action to reclaim undeserved bonuses repaid.
"This is really outrageous and it understandably offends people,” said NUPGE president James Clancy. “How can they possibly justify these bonuses when the fund lost over $23 billion dollars last year? They performed poorly and then rewarded themselves with million dollar bonus payouts? That defies common sense.”
Clancy called on the prime minister and his minister of finance to "use their public offices to express outrage on behalf of Canadians and let these executives know that their actions violate fundamental Canadian values such as fairness." As "a sign of moral leadership," he added, the executives should give the money back voluntarily.
Obscene
NDP pension critic Wayne Marston called the bonuses obscene.
"They lost (more than $23 billion) and they wiped out the last four years of contributions in that loss. How can you justify any kind of a bonus to people who have failed?" he asked.
In total, four top executives had their base salaries increased from a total of $1.47 million to $9.3 million, according to the 2008-09 CPP annual report.
The CPP Investment Board is a Crown corporation responsible for investing billions of dollars in CPP contributions made by Canadians to fund government pensions.
The NDP motion urges Ottawa to establish a self-financing pension insurance program and demands that Ottawa ensure workers' pension funds be given priority if a company files bankruptcy proceedings.
"We insure our cars, we insure our homes and we have deposit insurance on our savings, why can't we have a system that insures our pension plans?" Marston asked. "Right now if a company collapses, you could lose your pension. All of a sudden, your fixed income is gone and there is nothing you can do about it."
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
More information:
Million dollar bonuses for CPP executives are 'outrageous', says James Clancy