Canada to suspend senior bureaucrats’ bonuses from next year

Canadian Premier Ed Stelmach has announced that his Tory government will suspend the practice of giving performance bonus to senior government bureaucrats starting next year.

More than 6,000 government managers will be eligible to receive this year's bonuses, said Premier Ed Stelmach.

This bonus amounts to about $40 million, averaging about $5,300 per person.

Bonuses were given to senior government bureaucrats from 1999 to match their wages with those offered in other provinces.

We have made a commitment as a government, we will  honour the remuneration obligations for the current this fiscal year end, Premier Ed Stelmach told the legislature.

However, opposition party politicians are livid that the Tories are still planning to go ahead with bonuses payout in the wake of the country going in for its first $1.4-billion deficit in 15 years. The government is ultilising money from its savings to cover up the losses.

Opposition parties are pressurising Stelmach to cancel this year's bonuses, as well.

The Liberals showed detailed documents of civil servants starting from deputy ministers to secretaries who have received bonuses more than $110 million in three years, which works out to almost 30 per cent of annual salaries.

Stelmach told the House that the government will look at ''other public sector salaries'' next year but it will not break existing union contracts.

"Witness the fury of US politicians on the unjustified bonuses paid to AIG executives and compare it with our government's excuse to give bonuses to top bureaucrats." New Democrat Brian Mason said.

President Barack Obama plans to cut 165 million in bonuses being doled out to employees of insurer American International Group (AIG) which was bailed out three times by the government to the tune of  $180 billion (See: Failed AIG's bonuses to employees draw flak (http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_a/aig/20090316_employees_draw_flak.html)

The British government is also facing flak over awarding more than a minimum pension  payment to Fred Goodwin, the former head of  the Royal Bank of Scotland, under whose leadership the bank collapsed and reported a loss of £24.1 billion in 2008, the biggest loss ever reported by a British company. RBS was later bailed out by the government (See : British government becomes majority shareholder in RBS as investors reject stock offering) http://www.domain-b.com/finance/banks/20081128_british_government.html

Australia's Treasurer Wayne Swan, and Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Nick Sherry, announced reforms aimed at curbing excessive "golden handshakes" - or termination payments - paid to company executives.(See : Australia to curb excessive golden handshake to top bosses ) http://www.domain-b.com/management/general/20090318_golden_handshake.html