Crown corporation dished out $104 million in bonuses and raises during COVID pandemic
The BDC issued its employees $93 million in bonuses during the two pandemic-riddled years. They handed out an average of $20,158 in 2020 and $19,923 in 2021, and also gave $11 million in pay raises — without a single pay cut.
The Business Development Bank of Canada dished out $104 million in bonuses and raises in 2020 and 2021, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) through access-to-information requests.
"The federal Crown corporation shouldn't have doled out big bonuses and higher pay while Canadians were losing their jobs and businesses," said Franco Terrazzano, Federal director of the CTF.
The BDC issued its employees $93 million in bonuses during the two pandemic-riddled years. They handed out an average of $20,158 in 2020 and $19,923 in 2021 and also gave $11 million in pay raises — without a single pay cut.
According to the BDC's latest annual report, the senior executive team took home $8 million in salary and benefits in 2020, followed by $8.8 million in 2021. That's a 10% pay bump — despite the fact the number of people on the senior management team fell from 24 to 23 during that time.
This past year, the average salary for senior management at the Crown corporation was about $385,000. Meanwhile, the average Canadian salary in September 2022 was roughly $59,000, according to data from a recent federal government Labour Force Survey.
"BDC is a Crown corporation that is wholly owned by the Government of Canada and is accountable for its affairs through the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small business and Economic Development," according to its annual report.
The current president of the BDC is Isabelle Hudon, former Canadian Ambassador to France, who was appointed to the top spot at the Crown corporation in 2021 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
One of Hudon's first moves at the BDC was to award a $5-million contract to the McKinsey consulting firm. This included a contract extension of $2.1 million.
Hudon faced backlash internally at the BDC for wasteful spending, including $320,000 on a single event where attendees said: "they still have no idea what the point of it was."
Hudon also flew her Montreal-based personal chauffeur to British Columbia on the taxpayers' dime in 2022.
According to the federal public works department, McKinsey & Company has received $104.6 million in contracts from the Trudeau Liberals since 2015. However, they said information from other departments could see that number rise.
Since Trudeau first became prime minister, the CBC uncovered in January that the federal government has given McKinsey $66 million in contracts. This is compared to the nine years that Stephen Harper served as prime minister, during which they received only $2.2 million in federal contracts.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said on January 10 that his MPs would ask a parliamentary committee to study federal contracts given to the controversial firm. The House of Commons government operations committee voted on January 18 to review the contracts and McKinsey's role in national affairs.
Trudeau has asked his ministers to look into the contracts and expressed a desire for change if needed. His ministers and firm representatives are expected to testify before the committee.
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