"Bonuses are for when you go above and beyond, so why are most government executives taking bonuses every year when their departments can barely pass their own test?" said Franco Terrazzano, the CTF's federal director. "Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to end Ottawa's entitlement culture because federal executives shouldn't automatically get a bonus."

Former parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux questioned the government's performance management system, noting that departments establish many of their own benchmarks.

"We end up in a situation where it is public servants responsible for delivering programs that set their own targets," Giroux said. "Yet by their own assessment they fail to deliver on many of these."

According to the CTF, executive bonuses have cost taxpayers about $2 billion since 2015.

The report also highlights bonus payments at several federal Crown corporations despite ongoing financial challenges.

Canada Post, which reported nearly $1.6 billion in losses in 2025 and received a $1-billion taxpayer bailout, approved $30.8 million in bonuses for executives and staff.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) awarded $31.7 million in bonuses, even as housing affordability remained a major national challenge, while VIA Rail distributed $10.3 million in bonuses, with every executive receiving an average payout of $115,293, despite the Crown corporation continuing to post hundreds of millions of dollars in annual losses.

The federal high-speed rail Crown corporation, Alto, also paid out $2.8 million in bonuses, with every employee receiving incentive pay despite construction still being years away and the project's final route yet to be determined.

The CTF argues the bonuses undermine Prime Minister Mark Carney's repeated promises to reduce government spending. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, the cost of the federal bureaucracy is projected to be higher this year than it was during the final year of Justin Trudeau's government, even after adjusting for inflation.

"The government is more than $1 trillion in debt and Carney promised to find savings so these taxpayer-funded bonuses should be the first thing on the chopping block," Terrazzano said. "The government needs to stop rewarding failure with taxpayers' money."

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